Platanthera chlorantha - Greater Butterfly-orchid - (Orchidaceae)

Platanthera chlorantha - Greater Butterfly-orchid

This pallid orchid tends to favour calcareous soils and can be found on chalk grassland and in meadows.

When growing in the open, the Greater Butterfly-orchid is a sturdy-looking plant with a cylindrical flower spike carrying up to forty shiny white scented flowers. The stem can be over half a metre in height. This orchid is present throughout northern and central European countries, including Slovenia. It is also grows in North Africa and the Near East.

The two Butterfly Orchids (Lesser and Greater) are very alike and both are night scented. Different types of insect pollinate them so presumably they smell different although it is impossible for us to detect that. The safest way of telling the two orchids apart is to examine the pollinia - in the Lesser Butterfly-orchid the pollinia are vertical and in the Greater Butterfly-orchid they lean in towards each other at the tops. Both types of Butterfly Orchid can be found on heaths, on the edges of woodland and and on marshy ground.

Closeup of flower of Greater Butterfly-orchid showing pollinia

The specimen above was photographed in West Wales in June at Cae Blaen Dyffryn Nature Reserve.