More orchids from S.W. France...

A very familiar orchid to UK plant spotters is the Early Purple:



Quite variable in colour - this was the palest one I found (Sorry - photo's not quite up to the usual standard!!):


And two lovely species to finish with....

Bee Orchid - a lovely, freshly-opened example:


And a real gem - also rare in Britain and not at all common here - Narrow-leaved Helleborine - the orange throat is diagnostic:


Maybe a few more later in the season. Other wildflowers to come shortly....

 

Lovely, H-A! Does the first one have blotchy leaves? We get a lot of the maculata in the wilds here - great to see them, usually early July, if I remember rightly. (Which I probably don't :rolleyes: )

 

Yup! Often confused with Spotted Orchids as a result, though they flower later... "Maculata" (Heath Spotted Orchid) is one I haven't seen... said to have a wavy edge to its lip and a single small tooth - sounds a bit like Nanny Ogg, if you're a Terry Pratchett fan!

 

Beautiful, Hyla. My friend has several varieties on his land. We should have cycled over this weekend but we had all the rain and it's a mudbath but will see them this week and hopefully I'll photograph some.

 

Of course I'm a TP fan - isn't everyone? :eek:

Looking forward to seeing your ones, LoL!

 

Thought you went to bed, dendro? Of course you'll see them.

 

A brief update!

The Pyramidal orchids are in full bloom now - we have a nice patch of them in the top field which has arrived very recently. Here's part of it:


Some plants must have been there a while though - they're huge!


We also have a "graveyard" for old metal and rubbish, but look closely...


In front of the junk is an orchid - one I've never seen before. It's a Lizard Orchid - has an astonishing flower:


I've found four plants so far, but one's very small and slugs got two, so this is all I've got left! :(

 

The Pyramidal Orchids are so different and lovely.

The Lizard Orchid has a face, like some others you recently posted Hyla. This one actually looks like a little man with a long beard and wearing some kind of hat. The one facing the camera is even waving!

Isn't Natur amazing!

 

Great photos HA - such pretty flowers. The Lizard Orchid is fascinating - Ive never seen anything like it before