ORCHIS PAUCIFLORA

Family and Genus:- See- ORCHIDACEAE

Common Names:- Few-flowered orchid

Homotypic Synonyms:- Androrchis pauciflora, Orchis provincialis subsp.

pauciflora, Orchis provincialis proles pauciflora, Orchis provincialis var.

pauciflora.

Meaning:- Orchis (Gr) Testicle, (the shape of the root-tubers).

Pauciflora (L) With few flowers.

General description:- Short to medium perennial.

Stem:-

1) 15-35 cm, erect, sheathed above.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, 3-7, forming an indistinct rosette, broadly lanceolate, usually unspotted.

2) Cauline, 2 or 3, sheathing the sttem..

Flowers:-

1) Spike. rather lax, 4-7 flowered. flowers, pale yellow

2) Sepals, and petals spreading to erect, not forming a hood.

3) Labellum, 11-16 mm, broadly obovate in outline, shallowly 3-lobed, ± straight

with some small reddish-purple dots along the middle, a somewhat deeper

yellow than the sepals.

4) Spur, 15-20 mm, cylindrical, obtuse, slightly upward-curving.

Key features:-

1) Spur, as long as or longer than the ovary.

2) Spike, lax to dense, with 3-7 flowers.

3) Leaves, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, crowded at the base of the stem,

usually without spots.

4) Labellum, 13-15 x 13-15 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Scrubland vegetation, open woodland, meadows, often in rocky places.

(100-) 400-1300 m.

Distribution:- Fairly common in Peloponnisos and W Greece, scattered in C & N

mainland Greece. - Italy and W Balkan Peninsula from Istria to GreeceCorsica

eastwards to Greece and the Aegean Is. Fairly widespread and scattered across

Crete.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to May.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton