Spiranthes spiralis Autumn Lady's-tresses

A small, locally frequent, white-flowered orchid with a southern distribution in the British flora. Flowering spikes appear in late summer, usually in short, unimproved grassland and can be overlooked easily. In West Glamorgan it is predominantly coastal in its distribition and found scattered along the south Gower coast in short, grazed, limestone grassland. It aslo occurs in grazed fixed dunes and occasionally appears on mown verges. In Neath Port Talbot, there are small populations on the Baglan Energy Park and a large, significant population on Morfa Tip, where there are hundreds of plants in some years. It has also been recorded in grazed, unimproved grassland in the north of the county in its only inland site in West Glamorgan.