''Dactylorhiza majalis'', the broad-leaved marsh orchid, is a terrestrial

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

. Subspecies include: western marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''occidentalis''), southern marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''praetermissa''), Hebridean marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''ebudensis''), and narrow-leaved marsh orchid (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''traunsteinerioides''). The broad-leaved marsh orchid grows mainly in

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

-poor

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

areas that consist of several

plant communities A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant co ...

. More rarely, it is found in

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

s. Its flowering period begins at lower elevations as early as the beginning of May and ends in higher elevations at the end of July. The lowest blossoms usually open even before the stem has reached its full height.

Description

The broad-leaved marsh orchid is usually tall, though some specimens may reach . Three to eight dark spotted

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are distributed on the stem, which is hollow. The lower leaves are ovate to lanceolate and long and 1.5 to 3.5 cm (⅝ to 1⅜ in) wide. The upper leaves are increasingly smaller and more lanceolate. The

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s are about as long as the blossom and cover it before it blooms. The densely flowered

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

, which is long, is at first conical, but distinctly cylindrical when in full blossom. The seven to forty blossoms are colored purplish red, rarely light pink or white. The lateral

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s of the external circle of the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

stand obliquely or vertically upright. They are 7 to 12 mm (¼ to ½ in) long and 2.5 to 5 mm (⅛ to ³⁄₁₆ in) wide. The middle tepal is smaller and forms a "helmet" together with the two lateral tepals of the internal circle. These are 6 to 11 mm (¼ to ⁷⁄₁₆ in) long. The trilobate lip is 5 to 10 mm (³⁄₁₆ to ⅜ in) long and 7 to 14 mm (¼ to ⁹⁄₁₆ in) wide. The shape and pattern of the lips are variable. In the lighter central area of the lip the markings are made up of lines, streaks, or dots. The spur is bent slightly downwards and is not quite as long as the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

. The

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

has a palmate division and an irregular shape. The broad-leaved marsh orchid has a

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

of four sets of twenty

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s (2n = 4x = 80) and a

genome size Genome size is the total amount of DNA contained within one copy of a single complete genome. It is typically measured in terms of mass in picograms (trillionths (10−12) of a gram, abbreviated pg) or less frequently in daltons, or as the total ...

of 14.24 Gbp (2C). The

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

of this orchid contains no

endosperm The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...

for the

embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

. Therefore,

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

can take place only by means of infection with a root fungus (

mycorrhiza A mycorrhiza (from Greek μύκης ', "fungus", and ῥίζα ', "root"; pl. mycorrhizae, mycorrhiza or mycorrhizas) is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant ...

Taxonomy

In 1828

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist and ornithologist. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museu ...

described the broad-leaved marsh orchid as ''Orchis majalis''. The name became the

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

after Peter Francis Hunt and Victor Samuel Summerhayes transferred the species to the genus ''Dactylorhiza'' in 1965. Sometimes the name ''Dactylorhiza fistulosa'' is used, but since this description is not valid, the name cannot be used despite its earlier publication in 1794 as ''Orchis fistulosa''. Many

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

have been published: *''Orchis majalis'' Rchb. *''Dactylorchis majalis'' (Rchb.) Verm *''Orchis baltica'' (Klinge) A.Fuchs *''Dactylorchis baltica'' (Klinge) Verm. *''Dactylorhiza baltica'' (Klinge) N.I.Orlova *''Orchis longifolia'' Neuman *''Dactylorhiza ebudensis'' (Wief. ex R.M.Bateman & Denholm) P.Delforge *''Orchis francis-drucei'' Wilmott *''Dactylorhiza francis-drucei'' (Wilmott) Aver. *''Orchis kerryensis'' Wilmott *''Dactylorchis kerryensis'' (Wilmott) Verm. *''Dactylorhiza kerryensis'' (Wilmott) P.F.Hunt & Summerh. *''Dactylorhiza parvimajalis'' D.Tyteca & Gathoye *''Orchis occidentalis'' (Pugsley) Wilmott *''Dactylorchis occidentalis'' (Pugsley) Verm. *''Dactylorhiza occidentalis'' (Pugsley) P.Delforge *''Orchis sphagnicola'' Höppner *''Dactylorchis sphagnicola'' (Höppner) Verm. *''Dactylorhiza sphagnicola'' (Höppner) Aver. *''Dactylorchis hoeppneri'' (A.Fuchs) Verm. *''Orchis hoeppneri'' (A.Fuchs) Höppner ex Verm. *''Dactylorchis deweveri'' Verm. *''Dactylorhiza deweveri'' (Verm.) Soó *''Dactylorhiza hoeppneri'' (A.Fuchs) Soó *''Dactylorhiza sennia'' Vollmar *''Orchis traunsteinerioides'' (Pugsley) Pugsley *''Dactylorchis traunsteinerioides'' (Pugsley) Verm. *''Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides'' (Pugsley) Landwehr

Subspecies and varieties

Many names have been proposed at the subspecies, variety and form levels, but as of June 2014 only the following are recognized: * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''baltica'' (Klinge) H.Sund. – Finland, Germany, the Baltic Republics, Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''ebudensis'' (Wief. ex R.M.Bateman & Denholm) M.R.Lowe – Outer Hebrides of Scotland * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' var. ''francis-drucei'' (Wilmott) R.M.Bateman & Denholm – Scotland * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' var. ''kerryensis'' (Wilmott) R.M.Bateman & Denholm – western Ireland * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''majalis'' – widespread across much of Europe from Spain to Russia * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''occidentalis'' (Pugsley) P.D.Sell – Britain and Ireland * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''sphagnicola'' (Höppner) H.A.Pedersen & Hedrén – Scandinavia, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands * ''Dactylorhiza majalis'' subsp. ''traunsteinerioides'' (Pugsley) R.M.Bateman & Denholm – Britain and Ireland

Hybrids

The broad-leaved marsh orchid hybridizes quite commonly with other species of its genus. * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''aschersoniana'' (''

Dactylorhiza incarnata ''Dactylorhiza incarnata'', the early marsh-orchid, is a perennial, temperate-climate species of orchid generally found growing in wet meadows, and generally on base-rich soils, up to about 2100m asl. The species occurs widely in Europe and Asia ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''braunii'' (''

Dactylorhiza fuchsii ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'', the common spotted orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. ''Dactylorhiza fuchsii'' is one of Europe's commonest wild orchids. It is widespread across much of Europe, with the range ext ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''dufftiana'' (''

Dactylorhiza traunsteineri ''Dactylorhiza traunsteineri'', the narrow-leaved marsh orchid or Traunsteiner's dactylorhiza, is a terrestrial species of orchid native to the cooler parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. It is native to Scandinavia, the Alps, and a region extending ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''godferyana'' (''

Dactylorhiza praetermissa ''Dactylorhiza praetermissa'', the southern marsh orchid or leopard marsh orchid, is a commonly occurring species of European orchid. Description ''Dactylorhiza praetermissa'' grows to tall, with leaves generally unspotted. The flowers, appea ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''kuehnensis'' ('' Dactylorhiza ruthei'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''townsendiana'' (''

Dactylorhiza maculata ''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to R ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') * ''Dactylorhiza'' × ''rupertii'' (''

Dactylorhiza sambucina ''Dactylorhiza sambucina'', the elder-flowered orchid, is an herbaceous plant belonging to the family Orchidaceae. It is quite common and widespread throughout much of Europe from Portugal east to Finland and Ukraine. The flowers appear in spring ...

'' × ''D. majalis'') More rarely, hybrids with other genera (intergeneric hybrids) occur. * ×''Dactyloglossum drucei'' (''

Coeloglossum viride ''Coeloglossum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It has long been considered to have only one species, ''Coeloglossum viride'', the frog orchid. Some recent classifications regard ''Coeloglossum'' as part of the ...

'' × ''Dactylorhiza majalis'') * ×''Dactylodenia lebrunii'' (''Dactylorhiza majalis'' × ''

Gymnadenia conopsea ''Gymnadenia conopsea'', commonly known as the fragrant orchid or chalk fragrant orchid, is a herbaceous plant of the family Orchidaceae native to northern Europe. Etymology The name of the genus ''Gymnadenia'' is formed from Greek words (', ...

'')

Range

''Dactylorhiza majalis'' is widespread across much of Europe and north-central Asia, from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

the broad-leaved marsh orchid is widespread but with several gaps. In many places, especially from western to northern Germany, it is extinct. In

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

it is also quite widespread. A significant gap is found south of the

Aar AAR or Aar may refer to: Geography * Aar, a river in Switzerland, tributary of the Rhine *Aar (Lahn), a tributary of Lahn river in Germany, descending from the Taunus mountains * Aar (Dill), a tributary of Dill river in Germany, also in the bas ...

between

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

and

Lake Neuchâtel Lake Neuchâtel (french: Lac de Neuchâtel ; frp, Lèc de Nôchâtél; german: Neuenburgersee) is a lake primarily in Romandy, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by t ...

Conservation

Although the broad-leaved marsh orchid is commonly found in some regions, it is nevertheless protected as an orchid. As with many marsh plants, the numbers of this species have been dwindling for quite some time. The main causes are the entry of nitrogen via fertilizer, drying out of the habitat, and intensive conversion to pasture. The broad-leaved marsh orchid does not react so sensitively to changes in its habitat as for example the early marsh orchid, ''

''. It is usually the last of the native orchids to disappear. This tolerance makes it a still relatively common species.

References

External links

''Den virtuella floran'' Distribution
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1367838

majalis ( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...

Orchids of Europe Orchids of Asia Plants described in 1828