''Dactylorhiza sambucina'', the elder-flowered orchid, is an

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

plant belonging to the family

Orchidaceae 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 ...

. It is quite common and widespread throughout much of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

east to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The flowers appear in spring and summer, in various colors from yellow to purple.

Etymology

The name of the genus ''Dactylorhiza'' is formed from Greek words δάκτυλος "daktylos" meaning "finger" and ρίζα "rhiza" meaning "root" and refers to the tubers of this plant, that are split into several tubercles. The specific Latin name "sambucina", refers to the smell of ''Elder'' (''

Sambucus nigra ''Sambucus nigra'' is a species complex of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae native to most of Europe. Common names include elder, elderberry, black elder, European elder, European elderberry, European black elderberry and tramman (Isle ...

'') emanating by some plants of this species. The scientific binomial name of this plant was initially ''Orchis sambucina'', proposed by the Swedish naturalist and botanist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1755. The name was subsequently amended to the one currently accepted (''Dactylorhiza sambucina''), by the Hungarian botanist

Károly Rezső Soó Károly is a very common Hungarian male given name. It is also sometimes found as a Hungarian surname. The origin of this name is the Turkic languages, Turkic Karul, which means hawk. Nowadays Károly is considered the equivalent of English Karl or ...

in 1962.

Description

''Dactylorhiza sambucina'' reaches on average in height. These plants are ''bulbous geophytes'' with underground tubers or bulbs that annually produce new stems, leaves and flowers. The leaves are amplexicaul and vary from 4 to 7 per plant. The lower leaves are oblong-obovate with obtuse apex, while the upper leaves are lanceolate with acute apex. Size of leaves: width 1 to 2.5 cm, length 6 – 12 cm. The underground part of the stem has two tubers each one more or less deeply divided into several lobes (a characteristic of the genus ''Dactylorhiza''), the first one plays the important functions of supplying the stem, while the secondary ones collect nutrient materials for the development of the plant that will form in the coming year. The inflorescence is long and it is composed of flowers gathered in a dense spike. The flowers grow in the axils of bracts that are membranous and lanceolate-shaped. The flowers appear from mid-April to early July. Their colors vary from yellow with light reddish stains or purple speckled with darker spots on the labellum. They are

hermaphrodite In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrate ...

and pollinated by insects (

entomophily Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, some ...

), especially bumblebees (''

Bombus A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related gener ...

'' species). These orchids are almost without nectar, but they are visited by various pollinator insects as they are confused with other plants with nectar. The seed germination is conditioned by the presence of specific fungi.

Distribution

''Dactylorhiza sambucina'' is quite common and widespread throughout much of

from

east to

and

. It is absent from the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

, the

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herz ...

and less frequent on the north side of the Alps.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

Habitat and ecology

The ''elder-flowered orchid'' prefers fresh or dry meadows (subalpine and alpine grasslands), light woods and clearings or scrubland. They grow on siliceous and calcareous substrate, at an altitude of above sea level, although locally, for instance in

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, they can be found at sea level as well. The germination behavior, plant longevity, and soil requirements have recently been reviewed for the "Biological flora of Europe" .*

Gallery

File:Dactylorhiza sambucina - Flickr 003.jpg File:Dactylorhiza sambucina Rheinland-Pfalz 03.jpg

References

* Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia (3 voll.) - Edagricole – 1982, Vol. III, pag. 721 * Tutin, T.G. et al. - Flora Europaea, second edition - 1993

External links

Biolib

Flora europaea

Dactylorhiza sambucina
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1314837

sambucina ''Sambucina'' is a genus of fungi in the Helotiales order. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the order is unknown (''incertae sedis''), and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any family. This is a monotypic In b ...

Orchids of Europe