Autumn Lady's-tresses

The Autumn Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) are out now and seeing these flowers is the last hurrah of the summer. At a time of year when most plants have set seeds these small orchids are just bursting into fresh flowers.


 In Wild Flower Key Rose and O'Reilly describe the flowers as coconut scented. They are but I have only ever picked up the smell at the end of the day as the sun is starting to set. In the morning or middle of the day they have always remained unscented.

The species name of “spiralis” describes the arrangement of flowers in a spiral up the stem. A hand lens or magnifying glass makes it possible to appreciate the crystalline petals that appear through the lens as fresh and crisp as fresh snow. The sparkling white of the petals is further enhanced on a sunny day when light catches the fine layer of downy hairs that cover the ovaries.
There are two distinct kinds of leaves on the plants. Small scale like leaves are on the flower stem. Near to the flower stem you may discern a small rosette of blue-green leaves that carry out most of the photosynthesis for the plant.
Autumn Lady’s-tresses flower from August to September. They are found on calcareous grasslands or sandy dunes. I have found them most often on chalky grassland by the coast. I have heard of colonies growing in graveyards that are lightly maintained by mowing – allowing a short but not overly cropped grassy sward.
At only 7-20cm high when flowering they are not easy to spot. Stopping to look closer at what appears to be a short grass flower head can often lead to their discovery. The fine details of the white petals with the lower lip marked with a green centre are only discernable at close range.

Monkey Orchid

Monkey Orchids (Orchis simia) lost their habitat through downland being turned over to arable farming. The bright and charming flowers were also unfortunately tempting to pick. Loss of seed setting from flower picking further reduced populations of this lovely plant in the 1930’s. These factors led to its current conservation status of being specifically protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.



I went to see it at a site where it has been successfully introduced in Kent. Because of concerns over the vulnerability of the remaining Monkey Orchids in Kent seeds were collected and scattered in 10 sites considered ideal for Monkey Orchids. While Monkey Orchids did not grow in 9 of those sites in the one I visited they have flourished. It is a sheltered sloping field and when I visited at the end of May the grass was covered by cowslips and emerging Monkey Orchid buds.



The flower has a small tail. It is made monkey like by the upturned ends to the side petals lobes of the lip. Currently the plants are found in a few locations in East Kent and Oxfordshire. It grows on well drained chalky soils with a sunny aspect on fields or the edges of woods.  They flower from the end of May into June.

Bog Orchid

Looking for the smallest orchid in Britain, the Bog Orchid (Hammarbya paludosa), is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Reaching a maximum of 12 cm high and often as small as 3cm high it is hard to spot, particularly as the whole plant is green.




From experience it is best to see this plant with a knowledgeable guide. Last year I tip toes around some likely bogs with a bird watching friend and my dog. The dog pranced around and found it particularly exciting when he landed in unexpectedly deep pools of water. I found a few interesting species including Dorset Heath, but no Bog Orchids.



This year I signed up to join in surveying Bog Orchids with the Dorset Flora Group. By the time my day for surveying was due good weather meant all the surveying was completed. However the organiser kindly gave me specific directions for where to find these tiny orchids.



Bog Orchids flower from late June to late September flowering earlier in hot summers and later in cool summers. Sun light electrifies the green plants and makes them stand out against the surrounding vegetation which is usually Sphagnum moss. Bog Orchids grow in bogs where there is some flow of water, not in stagnant water. Around the edges of the leaves there is often a fringe of minute green bulbils. These will detach and in ideal conditions develop into new plants.



Bog Orchids are found in Wales, Scotland and Ireland and in a few locations in England restricted to the south west and very north. Growing in bogs it is best if you wear wellingtons when you look for them unless you love getting wet feet.

Fly Orchid

The shape of the flower of the Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera) has evolved to attract winged insects; specifically male digger wasps. Perhaps if the pollinator was known before the plant had been named it would more awkwardly be called the Digger Wasp Orchid.




The last weekend in May, Denge Wood in Kent was full of natural history groups. I was out with a group from the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), we bumped into the Faversham Natural History group and saw hordes of photographers carrying lots of photography gear; tripods, reflectors etc. The attraction is that Bonsai Bank is a great location for orchids and butterflies. A few of us also saw a glow worm crossing the path which is not uncommon there.



Having been told that there were some Fly Orchids near the path one of my companions said he would not look for Fly Orchids but would find them by spotting the trail trampled through the grass that the other group would have left. Fly Orchids are hard to spot and groups of interested people do trample paths to get to what they want to look at. Should we take off our shoes and then we might me more careful about where we step?



Fly Orchids range from Kent to Cumbria in their distribution, but within that range they are restricted to specific areas such as the North and South Downs in Kent. They grow in open grass, well lit woodland edges and scrub. The common factor is the alkaline pH that they favour.

Man Orchid

There were a couple of Man Orchids (Aceras anthropophorum) on the same site at Wye in Kent as the Lady Orchids. While the Lady Orchids were easily seen from a distance it took careful searching through the grass by a companion who knew Man Orchids were somewhere there to find them. At about 20cm high and with a slender raceme of greenish flowers these orchids blend into the grass.




The flowers are quite anthropomorphic as beneath the hood of the flower the lip hangs down split into arms and legs. The hood is yellow-green and the lip is yellow and sometimes edged in red.



The Man Orchids were growing in an area of shade free grass, but they can also be found in open woodland and scrub. When I saw them at the end of May they were in an optimum condition with all the open flowers fresh and some buds still too open. They flower from May – June, as always flowering times can vary according to location, temperatures and previous rain fall. Bearing in mind how cold the winter was it is likely that next year with milder winter temperatures and a little more rain they could have peaked by the end of May.



The Man Orchid is considered endangered and we only found two in flower on the site. It is likely that there were more plants there either not flowering or unnoticed in the sward. Growing nearby were two other green flowered plants with similar leaves; Twayblade Orchids and Common Adder’s-Tongue ferns forming a thick carpet.

Lady Orchid

The Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea) is Nationally Scare and very much a Kent speciality. So I went to Kent at the weekend to join in a walk with the BSBI (Botanical Society of the British Isles) to see the Lady Orchids, as well as some other interesting species which thrive in the North Downs.

Lady Orchids flower from late April to June and are currently blooming furiously. The hood of the flower is coloured by dense dark lines and the white lip is marked by dots which on closer observation are clusters of coloured hairs. Most flowers had dark maroon hoods. Some were such a dark shade of purple that they were almost black. Some had paler markings in shades of pink to white.

The height of the flowers varied from below knee height to 100cm high. We saw them in two different locations both were a combination of light shade and grassy surround near trees. Lady Orchids are generally found in open woodland or along the margins of woods.

A few flower spikes had clearly been nipped off leaving a stump of the flowering stem and the leaves. Hopefully this had been done by slugs or deer rather than someone picking the whole flowering stem of this rare British flower. There was one spike snapped off on the grass. It could have been trampled by a deer. Though given the number of orchid twitchers and photographers tramping along the woodland paths it seems far more likely that it was a careless step or foolishly placed piece of equipment.

Lady Orchids are reputed to smells of vanilla. there was a consensus among the group that while the flowers had an aroma which was not unpleasant it was certainly not vanilla.

Early-purple Orchid

The dark purple, almost blue, racemes of Early-purple Orchid (Orchis mascula) flowers can be visible from a distance. It flowers from April- June (early July in Scotland) and grows in a variety of habitats from grassland to deciduous woodland. The shape and colour of the flowers may be confused with Green-winged Orchids. However, the Early-purple Orchid has large dark spots on the leaves and the Green-winged Orchid's leaves are unspotted. Green-winged Orchid also has parallel green veins on the side petals of the flowers.

Early-purple Orchid is considered an Ancient Woodland Indicator. This means that it is characteristic of the vegetation community found in ancient woodlands. In the picture above the Early-purple Orchids are growing with Wood Anemone, Perennial Dog's-mercury and Bluebells; all classic Ancient Woodland Indicators in Britain. This community of plants tells you about the long history of woodland growing in that location. I saw these orchids in Garston Wood, a nature reserve that has been maintained by regular coppicing. The ancient woodland habitat supports a high level of biodiversity; 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity see http://www.cbd.int/2010/about for further information.

Early-purple Orchids are referenced in Shakespeare's Hamlet. I think a more interesting association between people and plants in this case is that Early-purples used to be consumed as a drink called Salep in Britain. Salep is still made in Turkey. While Early-purple Orchids can be common in some areas of Britain they do not grow in enough abundance to justify using them to make a drink. If someone was to start cultivating them as a commercial crop, int he way Vanilla the more familiar orchid we eat is cultivated, it would be a magnificent sight.