Current Efforts to Save the Endangered Canelo Hills ladies’ Tresses Orchid (Spiranthes delitescens)

The Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses orchid (Spiranthes delitescens) is currently known to occur in only two remaining locations on private ranchlands in southern Arizona. Since 2016, the DBG has been working with the USFWS, the Smithsonian’s North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC), and private ranchers to conserve this species through propagation and fungal research. Researchers are also working with trained ecological scent detection dogs to locate new individuals and subpopulations as well as historical populations that have not been documented for decades.