Autumn Lady's Tresses

Autumn Lady's Tresses Spiranthes spiralis (Fr. Spiranthe d'automne) is a species of orchid. The scientific name translates as 'spiral flowered spiral'. Fair enough...

There are around 40 species of Spiranthes around the world, of which four are found in Europe. Most of them are native to the Americas, but there are a few in Australasia too.

Autumn Lady's Tresses grow on chalk and calcareous soil in open dry habitats. Typically you would find it in abandoned unimproved pasture, grassy slopes, stable former terraces on calcareous land, roadsides, old lawns (especially those that also host a wide range of fungi such as Hygrocybes), and lawn cemeteries. Although it generally prefers open areas, it can also be found on the edges of woodlands, like the ones in these photos. 

This species is widespread in France but uncommon and localised. It flowers at the end of the growing season and this may limit how far north its distribution extends and at what altitude it can be found, as snow will inhibit the germination of seeds.

Because of its small size (at most 20 cm high) and discreet colouration it is often overlooked. If you do spot it though it is easy enough to identify, because of the distinctive spiral arrangement of the flowers. The leaves and the flowers appear at the same time, in late August and early September. A rosette of four or five leaves will be formed, and the flower stalk will appear from just beside the leaves (not from the middle of the rosette). The spiral of flowers can be clockwise or anticlockwise.

 

Ingrid aims her big lens at a tiny orchid.

The tiny flowers, if you can get down that far, are sweetly scented and provide nectar to attract diurnal insects. The visitor in my and Ingrid's photos is a Great Banded Furrow Bee Halictus scabiosae (Fr. Halicte de la scabieuse), easy to identify because of its two tone yellow abdominal bands. The white flowers of the orchid are only 5 mm in length and surrounded by bracts covered in dewy hairlike glands. 

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

Like most orchids it has a strong symbiotic association with a mycorhizal fungus for exchange of nutrients.

Photo courtesy of Ingrid de Winter.

These photos were taken last year in the commune of Bossay sur Claise.

A New and Unnecessary Garden Bed

I am dismayed to see that part of the nature strip near the médiathèque has been dug up and planted with garden plants that, whilst certainly eye-catching, are rather ordinary. 

 

 Lovely pocket of wild bee and orchid friendly habitat on the left. Banal bed of primulas on the right.

This area, along with the public park containing the chapel and the space behind the médiathèque, is a veritable treasure trove of natural biodiversity! It is teeming with native plant species, fungi and wild pollinators nesting in the ground, perfectly adapted to this dry, gravelly and compacted soil. Some of these species are uncommon, others even rare, and at least one, although it thrives here, is globally threatened.

These green spaces, left to minimal management, contribute enormously to Preuilly’s environmental well-being. They do not contribute as much if they are disturbed by earthworks and alterations.

 

Autumn Lady's Tresses leaf rosette, low profile enough to be safe from the mower, but the flower spike never survives to set seed.

Do you think a nature-loving tourist will be more impressed by the four species of wild orchids they can see near the médiathèque, or by a few primula they could grow in their own garden at home?

But these areas are mowed far too often by the local council. Every year, I look forward to seeing certain specific species and I tell my friends to come and look, only to find the special plants have been mowed off in their prime the day before.

 

The offending flower bed, plonked right over the spot where the Ivy Bees and Sand Wasps nest.

I have written about these wonderful little wild spots on several occasions, and here is a link to give you an idea. 

 Further reading:

Biodiversity at the Bibliotheque https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2021/09/biodiversity-at-bibliotheque.html

 

I've emailed the town hall to express my disgruntlement, and the new mayor has responded saying she would be delighted to meet to discuss. So now I've emailed my retired ecologist friend who lives in town to see if he would be willing to accompany me to a meeting. I'd like to get the discussion extended to the cemetery too. It could certainly do with some 'greening'.

Botany Outing to Mettray

On Saturday 7 March I participated in a botany outing to the Parc de la Vallée at Mettray, led by Dominique Tessier. He is their biodiversity adviser. Here is a small selection of the 200 photos I took.

 

 Straw Bristle Moss Orthotrichum stramineum.

The Choisille River winds through the park.

Black Stone Flower lichen Parmotrema perlatum (Fr. Fleur de pierre noire) is a widespread species that occurs in temperate climates everywhere. It is used as a spice in India.

A Douglas Fir cone.

An alderfly Sialis sp. Without seeing the abdomen it is not possible to say for sure which species.

Eastern Sycamore Lace Bug Corythucha ciliata (Fr. Tigre du platane). Pick off any piece of London Plane tree bark and you will find one of these non-native bugs lurking on the underside. The species arrived in France in 1975, from America, and is one of the vectors for two deadly fungal diseases of sycamores, to which London Plane Platanus x hispanca is particularly susceptible.

A rosette lichen Physcia sp.

Oakmoss Evernia prunastri, for once not growing on oak, and distinguishable from lookalike species by its mottled white underside. It is best known as being an ingredient for perfumes.

Hooded Tube Lichen Hypogymnia physodes.

Bitter Wart Lichen Lepra amara. I taste tested this patch. Definitely bitter.

The sports club at the main entrance to the park. The junior soccer team were practicing while we were there, and there were quite a few members of the public strolling or dog walking in the park. Several times we were asked about what we were doing and people seemed genuinely interested.

Steely Bonnets

On our walk on Monday I noticed that the big old poplar trees by the plan d'eau (village pond) are not just covered in moss all over their lower trunks. At the moment there are also tiny white mushrooms peaking out from amongst the moss, as if the lush greenness is studded with pearls. Naturally I took a quick phone photo, and when I got home I had to figure out what they were.

They seem to be Steely Bonnets Mycena pseudocorticola (Fr. Mycène corticole bleue). They grow on the moss covered bark of living deciduous tree trunks. The Preuilly specimens seem to be very pale and white, but you can see a blue grey tint to their stems. These little mushrooms pop out when it is wet during autumn and winter. Typically they are apparently a bit darker and greyer than the ones in my photo.

Widespread and common they are nevertheless the sort of thing most people overlook, as their tiny conical caps are only a few millimetres across.

How French Are Escargots?

Ninety-five percent of snails consumed in France come from Eastern Europe. French snail farmers  want to establish some rules so that traceability is clear.

 

Roman Snail in the wild, in the grounds of a chateau that is a Buddhist retreat.

There are 500 snail farmers in France. It's a profession that didn't exist until 40 years ago and it appeared after the legislation protecting Roman Snails Helix pomatia (Fr. Escargot de Bourgogne, or Gros Blanc) was introduced and the species could no longer be collected from the wild without restrictions. It was clear that the snails would go extinct if wild collecting continued as it had in the past.

 

Prepared large Garden Snails in garlic butter, produced by a local snail farmer.

For 45 years the rules have been that you can only collect Roman Snails between 1 July and 31 March, and only if the diameter is 3 cm or more. These constraints mean that the French market cannot be satisfied. At the time of the protection legislation consumption was already at 15 000 tonnes per year. So the profession of snail farmer (Fr. héliciculteur) was invented.

 

For the best snails go to a winter gourmet or producers market (Marché des producteurs) such as this one at la Celle Guenand. The snail producer's stall is on the left.

 

They tried at first to raise Roman Snails, the same as they were used to finding in the wild. But this was a short lived experiment. It just wasn't profitable. Roman Snails take 3-5 years to mature, so faster growing species were sought. Nowadays farmed snails are an unusually large subspecies of Garden Snail Cornu aspersum maxima that is widely believed to have been sourced from Algeria (although recent genetic tests have discounted that). Garden Snails are known in French as Petit Gris, and the farmed subspecies is known as the Gros Gris. This large Garden Snail proved to have similar characteristics to the Roman Snail, and in fact proved to be more tender and less rubbery. Crucially for commercial purposes it matures in 4 to 6 months.

 

Roman Snail in the grounds of the Domaine de Candé.

 

However, restaurateurs cannot put the more prestigious Escargot de Bourgogne on their menus if they are using Gros Gris, and many have turned to the Eastern European countries to source wild collected Roman Snails. There is no legislation in Poland, Romania, Ukraine or Bulgaria protecting the species, and they have flooded the French market. But now, populations of Roman Snails in those countries are coming under threat, just as happened in France in the 1980s. On the other hand, the French population has bounced back quite well.

 

A Garden Snail that hitched a lift on some lettuce.

 

Ukraine had become a leader in snail farming, with several hundred farms producing a thousand tonnes, entirely for export, as there is no native tradition in Ukraine of eating snails. But COVID-19 brought all that to a halt as exports had to cease. Likewise in France COVID-19 nearly wiped out snail farming, as 70% of sales are made during the winter holiday season, and due to the pandemic any celebrations, markets and restaurant dining were severely restricted in November 2020 to January 2021. 

Roman Snail in the wild.

But there is no question of going back to the old days. Roman Snails will remain protected in France and only accessible to those who collect a few in the autumn and winter for personal consumption. Meanwhile, the French National Federation of Heliciculteurs is working towards certification for 'escargot francais' for the Gros Gris, in the same way that French poultry is certified.

Further Reading: A profile of one of our local snail farmers that I wrote more than a decade ago  https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-snail-farmer.html

Cyclamens at Chenonceau

Every year we post photos of a carpet of cyclamens photographed somewhere in the Touraine Loire Valley to usher in the autumn. This year the cyclamens are in the grounds of the Chateau de Chenonceau.