This plant is one of the smallest orchids and is native to sunny exposed grasslands in mountainous regions of Central and Southern Europe. It is considered endangered in many areas of Germany and Austria.

It grows from two spherical tubers with thick roots. It is believed that the plant can grow underground for 10-15 years before the first stem appears.

Flowers have a strong fragrance and are borne in a dense cylindrical pattern, with individual plants capable of producing up to 70 flowers.

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This is a protected flower!

It is a native of western Eurasia, ranging from Europe to Iran.. It grows in grassy meadows, especially on limestone-rich soil and may reach a height of 30 cm.

Leaves are lanceolate, or sometimes ovate, and grow in a rosette around the base of the plan, with some thinner leaves clasping the stem and sheathing almost up to the flowers. Leaves are green and unspotted.

It flowers from April to June The inflorescence is of various colours, mainly purple but ranging from white, through pink, to deep purple. From 5 to 25 helmet-shaped flowers grow in a loose, linear bunch at the top of the single stalk.

The name morio is derived from the Greek word "moros" meaning "fool". This refers to the colorful, green striped flowers. A pair of lateral sepals with prominent green, occasionally purple veins extend laterally like "wings", giving the orchid its name. The broad, three lobed, lower petal is pale in the centre with dark spots.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Protected flower!

This is the largest of the orchids found in the Lobau and the one with the most distinctive flower. It grows to a height of 20 to 50 cm with a robust stem with rather drawn up oblong basal leaves. The inflorescence forms a purplish dense cone consisting of from 10 to 40 flowers. In each flower the sepals and side petals are gathered together to form a pointed "helmet" (whence it gets its name), a lilac colour outside and a veined purple colour inside. The central tongue finishes in two lobes separated by a tooth.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Like all types of orchid growing in this area, the Bug Orchid is an endangered and strictly protected species.

As the multiple synonyms suggest, its exact classification is a matter of ongoing discussion but I have chosen to use the name Orchis because that is the one used in the database of the Natural History Museum in Vienna.

It differs from the other orchids growing at the same time in the same area mainly by its colour (a brownish pink) and the shape of the lip petal. The dark pinkish-brown edges are noticeably pulled backwards, emphasising a prominent and lighter-coloured spotted bump. The hood is beak-shaped with a pointed, downward-facing tip.

The elongated, unspotted leaves form a rosette with several smaller and shorter leaves extending from the erect, light green stem.

Beneath each flower in the spike is an upward-reaching, long, narrow, brownish-green bract that is clearly visible in the inflorescence. The spike is cylindrical composed of 15 to 40 small, densely-arranged flowers.

An endangered and protected species!

This type of orchid is recognisable by its upright, cone-shaped spike of up to 50 dense, pale pink or flesh-coloured flowers with long, pinkish-green bracts reaching upwards between them. The lip is only slightly lobed and appears elongated as its lateral edges are slightly curled under. The darker markings on the lip are distinct, looped and linear, slightly patchy or spotted. There may be considerable variation here. The hood has 2 pink, wing-like sepals projecting outwards and upwards on either side giving the flower a distinctive appearance of flight.

4 to 7 pale green upright leaves reach beyond the base of the flower spike and loosely enfold it, the tips sometimes bending outwards.

This flower tends to hybridise with other related sub-species so many small variations may occur that make it difficult or impossible to identify exactly.

This orchid is particularly rare in Austria and strictly protected.

It is a short lived perennial, producing a small rosette of leaves in the autumn. It develops slowly during 3 - 4 years before producing a flower. It may then flower during several further successive years, then either disappear or miss a few seasons before flowering again. Overall, the numbers of flowering plants in an area may vary greatly from season to season.

The flower attracts bees by producing a scent that mimics the scent of the female bee. In addition, the lip acts as a decoy as the male bee confuses it with a female. Pollen transfer occurs during the ensuing pseudocopulation. Alternatively it can pollinate itself, the stalks of the pollinia bending over causing them to touch the sticky surface of the stigma beneath.

The future seed pod is visible during flowering as a thickened green area behind the flower, growing out from the main stem in the axil of a leaf. This is not a stalk but the female part of the flower.

This plant is rare and strictly protected.

It is native to central and eastern Europe, western Asia and the Mediterranean area.

It is easily distinguishable by its strong, upright stem, apparent lack of leaves and large winged flowers. In fact the leaves are in the form of greenish scales sheathing the stem and, although they do photosynthesise, the plant is unable to produce all the food it needs and is largely dependent on a symbiotic or parasitic relationship with its root fungus from which it obtains essential nutrients.

The flowers produce nectar and may either be pollinated by insects or self pollinated.

Seeds are among the largest produced by orchids and seedlings develop very slowly, remaining entirely below ground for 8-10 years before flowering.

This is a protected flower!

It is a perennial plant, overwintering as rhizomes that produce many shoots, resulting in the spreading of clumps over larger areas.

The tall, erect spikes with loosely arranged flowers have a fragile appearance, the colours delicate and the flower structure not immediately evident when seen from above on account of the downward facing growth. The flower buds are pointed, brownish and also downward facing.

The plants prefer a damp and sunny location, here in an intermittently marshy backwater area.

This is a strictly protected plant as are all the native orchids.

It is found in woods and shady hedge banks as its fungal partner (see explanation at head of page) is also a partner of certain trees and shrubs. It has rhizomes that permit vegetative reproduction in addition to seed production.

The leaves are broad and pointed at the tip with clear parallel veins and spread out flatly, increasing in size towards the base.

Although the flower stem is tall and erect, it is easily overlooked because the petals and sepals are greenish in colour, sometimes with a cream or purple tinge. Only the inside of the deep cup-shaped lip is dark purple. The flowers are numerous, from 15 to 50, and tend to droop. They have no spur but a swollen part at the base that later develops into a pod, each producing as many as 10,000 tiny seeds that are so small, they float in the air and may reach as far as 10 km in the wind before they finally sink to the ground. The fruit pods ripen between August and September.

Bees are the best pollinators as the pollinium sticks well to their fur. Some insects such as wasps and flies visit the flower for its nectar but don’t contribute to pollination as the pollinium doesn’t stick to their smaller, smoother bodies.

Studies have found that the nectar contains minute amounts of oxycodone, an opiate-like narcotic substance.

(source Wikipedia)

Protected species

The lip of this white orchid is strap-like and 6-10mm long, the other two petals are smaller, upwards-pointing and, together with the upper petal-like sepal (tepal), forms a loose triangular hood that protects the two large pollen packets (pollinia) beneath. The whole flower resembles an insect in flight.

In the evening the flower emits a strong scent that attracts certain species of moths. The moth seeks to reach the nectar stored in the long spur projecting behind the flower, rests its legs on the lip of the flower, pushes its long proboscis between the two pollinia and dislodges them. Their sticky pads then adhere to the body of the insect which will later deposit them onto another flower of the same species.

As with all orchids, the tiny seeds of this flower possess no food reserves and germination is only possible with the help of a root fungus (Mycorhizza).

Rare in this part of Europe, this is a protected plant.

This orchid has smooth, erect multiple stems. The leaves are dark green, long and narrowly tapering.

The yellow patch on the labellum attracts insects although the flower produces little nectar. The pollen packets, which are the two pollinia suspended above the lip, stick to the backs of solitary bees that visit.

The fruit is a dry capsule and the dust-like seeds are dispersed by the wind.

The perennial plant has a rhizome and can also reproduce vegetatively.