SPECIES DESCRIPTION
ANACAMPTIS SANCTA
Family and Genus:- See- ORCHIDACEAE
Common Names:- Holy Orchid
Homotypic Synonyms:- Anteriorchis sancta, Herorchis sancta, Orchis
coriophora subsp. sancta, Orchis coriophora var. sancta, Orchis sancta.
Meaning:- Anacamptis (Gr) Bent-back, reference to the long spur of the flower.
Sancta (L) Holy. The original description was based on a collection by
the Linnaean disciple Fredrik Hasselquist c. 1750 in the Holy Land, hence the
name.
General description:- Low to medium perennial.
Stem:-
1) 15-45 cm, erect.
Leaves:-
1) Cauline, almost all sheath-like.
2) Lower, 5-15, broadly linear,.unspotted, forming an indistinct rosette. withered at
anthesis.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, relatively lax, cylinrical, fairly large, white-rosy to red or dark red.
almost odourless.
2) Bracts, membranous, ochre-yellow, larger than the ovary.
3) Dome, longish, sharp with green shades.
4) Sepals, sharp, asymetrical.
5) Petals, linear-lanceolate
6) Labellum, small to medium, unspotted, 3 lobed, base, constricted with 2
prominances, angular, with a channel in-between, which frame the entrance of
the spur.
7) Lobes:
a) lateral, rhomboidal, dentate.
b) middle, oblong-lanceolate.
8) Spur, arculate, leaning downward and forward
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, dry grassland, open woodland, roadsides,
0-500(-850) m.
Distribution:- In Greece not recorded outside the Aegean area. - Also in S
Anatolia, Cyprus, W Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Rare on Crete currently known
from only three locations.
Flowering time:- Late April to mid-June (later than most other orchids in the area
and then often conspicuous in dry grassland).
Photos by:- A.N Other
