ANACAMPTIS COLLINA

Family and Genus:- See- ORCHIDACEAE

Common Names:- Fan lipped orchid

Homotypic Synonyms:- Barlia collina, Herorchis collina, Orchis collina,

Vermeulenia collina.

Meaning:- Anacamptis (Gr) Bent-back, reference to the long spur of the flower.

Collina (L) Of the hills, growing on hills.

General description:- Short to medium perennial.

Stem:-

1) 12-35 cm, erect, rather stout.

Leaves:-

1) Lower, 2-4, forming an indistinct rosette, narrowly obovate, fresh green, usually

unspotted.

2) Cauline, vaginate, wrapping the stem up to the inflorescence.

Flowers:-

1) Spike, narrowly cylindrical, lax, 5-15-flowered.

2) Lower bracts, longer than the ovary, olive-brown.

2) Sepals and petals, dark olive-green to deep, rather dull purple,

a) lateral sepals, spreading upwards, the

b) upper sepal and the petals, forming a helmet.

3) Labellum, 10-12 mm, broadly obovate, almost entire, rather uniform in colour

varying from violet-red to almost white.

4) Spur, short, thick, saccate-conical, downward-directed, 5-7mm long, half the

length of the ovary.

Key features:-

1) Spur, cylindrical or saccate, directed downwards.

2) Two lateral outer perianth-segments, erecto-patent or patent-deflexed.

3) Bracts, 5 to 7-veined.

4) Labellum, undivided.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation olive groves, fallow fields, archaeological

sites 0-900 m.

Distribution:- Wide but patchy distribution in the Mediterranean region from S

Spain to W Syria, extending to Caucasus an N Iran. Widespread and fairly common

on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mid (Feb-) Mar to early May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton