Pine forest orchid (Orchis pinetorum)

Orchis pinetorum

Orchis pinetorum is a tall orchid with globular tubers. The stem reaches 60 I; tall, and is coloured reddish-brown at the top. The 4-6 rounded basal leaves are oval or lanceolate, broadest in the middle, and orientated sideways and upwards, They are usually without spots. The stem leaves are smaller. Te inflorescence is rather lax, cylindrical with 10-45 pink or purple flowers. The central sepal forms a hood with the petals. The lateral sepals are upright and rear-facing. The lip is three-lobed, flat or slightly protruding and lighter ate the base with no or few purple dots. Its central lot is divided in two, and is longer than the lateral ones, which are a rhomboid in shape. The spur is cylindrical, and oriented upwards. Blooms from April to June.

Appearance

Morphologically, the Pine forest orchid resembles the Eastern early-purple orchid O.ovalis and Early-purple orchid O.mascula, and is often viewed as a subspecies of the latter, being described under the name Orchis mascula sap. pinetorium (Boiss. & Kotschy) E.G. Camus.

Pine forest orchid - Orchis pinetorum https://www.jungledragon.com/image/78665/pine_forest_orchid_-_orchis_pinetorum.html Asparagales,Bulgaria,Europe,Flowering Plant,Geotagged,Magnoliophyta,Monocot,Nature,Orchidaceae,Orchis pinetorum,Pine forest orchid,Plantae,Rhodope mountains,Spring,Wildlife

Habitat

Prefers semi-shaded locations in forests and shrubs, growing along forest roads and forest edges (mainly conifers). In Bulgaria, it is distributed mainly in southern parts of the country, up to an altitude of 1500 m. It is found mainly in the Eastern sub-Mediterranean.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Michaela Yordanova - Orchids of the Rhodope Mountains.

Taxonomy
Kingdom	Plantae
Division	Angiosperms
Class	Monocots
Order	Asparagales
Family	Orchidaceae
Genus	Orchis
Species	Orchis pinetorum

Photographed in
Bulgaria