Not an orchid

[SteveC2]

At a local roadside nature reserve the orchids are all marked and labelled for their protection.  Not sure about this but it does make finding them in the long grass easier.  At the weekend I looked down at the foot of one of the poles and found this.  Not an orchid I know, but all I can come up with is a very small broad bean.  I am sure that someone out there knows better!
Of course, given that it is on a chalk roadside in Lincolnshire perhaps it is a broad bean?

[Palustris]

Somewhere nearby a farmer is growing or has grown field beans and one has escaped. The fields around us are full of a type of Broad Bean which is used to make a flour for consumption in Saudi Arabia. They are very similar to this one, but rather taller.

[SteveC2]

I did wonder about that, but someone from the Wildlife Trust had pegged it as an orchid, or at least as something worth protecting which kind of threw me as I assumed that it must be something rare.

[Maggi Young]

Either someone is having a little laugh, or perhaps it's a cunning plan to see if anyone steals it - just because it's tagged as an orchid. 

[johnralphcarpenter]

And if somebody steals it it will have bean and gone.

[Maggi Young]

And if somebody steals it it will have bean and gone.

     

If it was in fruit it would be  - I LOVE  fresh broad beans !!

[Palustris]

Well if it is a Field bean then sadly the beans are not as big or as juicy and tasty as Longpod ones.
Just picked and eaten some from the field by us, on my morning walk, very disappointing.

[Maggi Young]

Perversely, Eric, that has cheered me  immensely! Thanks!

[SteveC2]

I will not be going back to sample the beans when they ripen , assuming of course that an orchid thief does not remove the plant.

[Anthony Darby]

A smaller version of the broad beans I have flowering in a couple of troughs outside my classroom. Left overs from year 10 germination experiments.