Orchis purpurea - Lady Orchid - (Orchidaceae)

Orchis purpurea - Lady Orchid

The Lady Orchid is a member of the Orchis militaris group and is very variable in shape and colour of the lip, making its identification very difficult. A robust plant, up to 80 cm tall and occasionally larger, the flower spikes of the Lady Orchid can contain anything up to 200 individual flowers. The leaves at the base are usually upward-pointing, and the stem, while green at the base, becomes increasingly flushed purple towards the flower spike.

The specimen above was photographed in the Lot Valley, southern France, in late May.

Favouring alkaline or occasionally neutral soils, the Lady Orchid occurs in short grassland, on woodland edges and sometimes in open woodland. It is now very rare in the UK.

It is much easier to find this orchid in France or Italy where it still flowers freely in some places. In the Gargano Peninsula area of southern Italy the plants can grow to a metre in height and have large, densley-packed infloresences of vividly marked flowers. They are a magnificent sight!

Lady Orchid also occurs in many northern and central European countries including Slovenia where it grows on the limestone substrates of the Triglav National Park.

A very tall, robust Lady Orchid plant in Italy

The plant shown above was photographed on a roadside in southern Italy and there were numerous other specimens of similar stature in the vicinity. They were photographed in mid-April.

A closeup picture of a very large Lady Orchid

A wonderful specimen of the Lady Orchid photographed in the Gargano Peninsula in southern Italy in mid-April