Orchidaceae

Orchidaceae

Orchids

From Streeter et al., 2016, 'Family Key':

"Flowers strongly irregular consisting of 6 free tepals in 2 whorls of 3; outer 3 (sepals) and 2 of inner whorl (petals) more or less similar; lowest petal or lip large, conspicuous and much modified; stamens and stigmas much modified and borne on special structure, the column in middle of flower."

Orchids are monocotyledons.

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 012

Date: 17 Apr 2024

Locality: Pilch Field, Buckinghamshire

Location (Lat/Long): 51.9825, -0.91124

Landscape/habitat: Wet meadow, SSSI and managed by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT, no date). Shows ancient 'ridge and furrow' plough marks. Plenty of cowslips present.

Identification notes: I saw 3 orchids fairly close together that were in flower. I spotted more as I walked further into the site, there were no large clumps of them visible but the odd couple showing. The specimen shown in the photographs was at the edge of a ridge, leading down to a furrow. The irregular flowers indicated it would be an orchid, and I was primed to look for them as I had read a site description with a list of species present before I went.

From Streeter et al. (2016, p.680) description of characters, with my observations:

  • Flowers May - Jun (a little early but within expectations, explains why there were only a few out in flower)

  • Deep purple flowers (as shown)

  • Tepals converging to form a hood (as shown in 2nd image in gallery)

  • Outer tepals with conspicuous greenish or greyish veins (as shown in 3rd image)

  • Leaves unspotted (as shown in 4th image, so not Early-purple Orchid)

Green-winged Orchid
Green-winged Orchid
Name: Green-winged Orchid, Anacamptis morio
Tepals making a hood
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References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.

BBOWT (no date) Pilch Field. Available at: https://www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-reserves/pilch-field (Accessed: 13 May 2024).

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