SPECIES DESCRIPTION
ANACAMPTIS PAPILIONACEAE ssp. HEROICA
Family and Genus:- See- ORCHIDACEAE
Common Names:- Butterfly orchid
Synonyms:- Orchis papilionacea ssp. heroica
Meaning:- Anacamptis (Gr) Bent-back, reference to the long spur of the flower.
Papilionacea (L) Resembling a pea flower.
Heroica (L) Heroic.
General description:- Short to medium perennial.
Tubers:-
1) Globose.
Stem:-
1) 20-40 cm, erect, with a basal rosette of leaves and sheaths above.
Leaves:-
1) Mostly in a basal rosette, lanceolate-linear to lanceolate, pointed:
a) cauline, leaves sheathing the stem up to the flowers.
Flowers:-
1) White or pale violet-pink:
a) lip, purplish-violet with darker pink or red dots or streaks, occasionally almost
white with pale markings, borne in lax oblong spikes.
2) Bracts, lanceolate, about as long as the ovary, often flushed with purple or red.
3) Sepals and petals, forming a small pointed helmet,
a) lateral sepals, often with greenish parallel veins.
b) lip, 10-16 mm long, reniform to cordate or almost rounded, unlobed or
obscurely 3-lobed, with a finely toothed margin.
4) Spur. slightly down curved, 8-12 mm long, conical, shorter than the ovary.
Fruit:-
Key features:-
1) Labellum, deeply 3-lobed, with 2 longitudinal ridges at base.
2) Tubers entire.
Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, dry grassland, olive groves and fallow fields.
0-500 (-800) m.
Distribution:- Widespread throughout the Mediterranean region. Widespread and
common on Crete.
Flowering time:- Mid-Mar to mid-May.
Photos by:- Steve Lenton
