Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: annew on May 21, 2014, 11:51:47 AM

Title: Which orchid is this?
Post by: annew on May 21, 2014, 11:51:47 AM

Can anyone ID this Dactylorhiza for me? It came from a friend's wild garden in France, and flowers 3 weeks earlier than my other native species. It is fairly short at about 25cm high.

Title: Re: Which orchid is this?
Post by: Matt T on May 21, 2014, 01:44:57 PM

The Dactylorhiza are notoriously tricky and confused by hybrids.

However, the lip appears to be quite narrow/down-folded which suggests Early Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza incarnata to me. Southern Marsh would have a flatter/cupped lip.

Early Marsh tolerates a wide variety of conditions and is found in a variety of habitats. In the UK it flowers from late May.