Common spotted orchid

Common Spotted-orchid
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Orchidoideae
Genus:	Dactylorhiza
Species:	D. fuchsii
Binomial name
Dactylorhiza fuchsii Druce ex Soó 1962

The Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) is a commonly occurring species of European orchid. It is widely variable in colour and height, ranging from 15 to 60 cm in height. The flower colour can vary from white to pale purple with purple spots. The lip has three lobes. Some colonies are highly perfumed, attractive to day-flying moths.

• Flowers: June–August.
• Leaves: narrow lanceolate, keeled, often dark-spotted.
• Distribution: widespread, occurring from alkaline marshes to chalk downland. The most common orchid in Britain. After the Bee Orchid, it is the most successful orchid coloniser of waste land.

Subspecies

• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. carpatica (Batoušek & Kreutz) Kreutz (Slovakia)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. fuchsii (Europe to Siberia and Mongolia)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. hebridensis (Wilmott) Soó (Great Britain, Ireland)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. okellyi (Druce) Soó (Great Britain, Ireland)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. psychrophila (Schltr.) Holub (Europe to Siberia)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. sooiana (Borsos) Borsos (Slovakia, Hungary)

Source

• World Checklist of Monocotyledons, Kew Botanical Gardens

Gallery

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  Dactylorhiza fuchsii

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  Dactylorhiza fuchsii close-up

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