WILD ORCHIDS are now in flower in many places. Common spotted orchids grow in grassy places that are a little damp, often in colonies of 100 or more.
Each plant has spotted leaves beneath a spike of many flowers, and the spikes range in colour from pinkish-white to purple. The individual flowers have a large lower lip for insects to land on, and this is decorated with delicate lines like a child’s drawing of a face, with two big eyes.
Marsh orchids grow in soggy places, and can also vary in colour but are very often a deep purple. They are rather similar to the spotted orchids, but they have plain leaves, and among the flowers on the spike there are long, green bracts. The marks on the lower lip are dots rather than lines. There is a southern species and a smaller northern species.
In marshes, these orchids often grow among a tangle of other flowers, including the pink ragged robin, with its flowers that look as if they have been cut almost to shreds, and the yellow iris with its large, drooping petals, its fragrant smell, and its leaves like sword blades.
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DJM