Wow! Am I excited to have found this wild orchid known as nodding ladies tresses, Spiranthes cernua, in our lake.
It's a fascinating bog plant, commonly known to flower between August and November. I've visited this site many times, at different times of the year, and yet this is the first time I've seen them. Was I not ready to take it in previously (overloaded with other new species), or were they not growing here before? They are a successional species, so it's described as 'fickle' - maybe that's why?
They're glossy like sugar-coated buns when you examine them up close in the sun.
This is where I found this beauty, at the purple x:
