''Anacamptis morio'', the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid (

synonym 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 ...

''Orchis morio''), is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

of the

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 ...

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 usually has purple flowers, and is found in

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 ...

and

the Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

Description

It flowers from late April to June in the British Isles, and as early as February in other countries, such as France. The inflorescence is of various colours, mainly purple but ranging from white, through pink, to deep purple. From 5 to 25 helmet-shaped flowers grow in a loose, linear bunch at the top of the single stalk. A pair of lateral

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

with prominent green, occasionally purple veins extend laterally like "wings", giving the orchid its name. The broad, three lobed, lower petal is pale in the center with dark spots. Leaves are

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

, or sometimes

ovate Ovate may refer to: *Ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, tepals, or other botanical parts *Ovate, a type of prehistoric stone hand axe *Ovates, one of three ranks of membership in the Welsh Gorsedd *Vates In modern English, the nouns vates () and ovat ...

, and grow in a rosette around the base of the plan, with some thinner leaves clasping the stem and sheathing almost up to the flowers. Leaves are green and unspotted. Plants grow to 40 cm in height. It is similar in appearance to the early purple orchid ''

Orchis mascula ''Orchis mascula'', the early-purple orchid, early spring orchis, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Description ''Orchis mascula'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with stems up to high, green at the base and ...

'', which flowers around the same time of year, but ''Anacamptis morio'' has green stripes on the two lateral sepals, and lacks the spots or blotches of the Early Purple's leaves. Individual plants may flower for up to 17 years.

Taxonomy

The species was first described, as ''

Orchis ''Orchis'' is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), occurring mainly in Europe and Northwest Africa, and ranging as far as Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang. The name is from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις ''orchis'', meaning "testicle", from t ...

morio'', by

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 1753. It was transferred to the genus ''

Anacamptis ''Anacamptis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae); it is often abbreviated as Ant in horticulture. This genus was established by Louis Claude Richard in 1817; the type species is the pyramidal orchid (''A. pyramidal ...

'' in 1997. ''Anacamptis'' comes from the Greek ανακάμτειν "anakamptein" which means to bend, although according to different sources it may mean to bend backward, to bend down or to bend forward. The name ''morio'' is Latin for "

clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

", which its striped and spotted flowers were held to resemble.

Subspecies

, the

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

accepts six subspecies: *''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''caucasica'' *''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''champagneuxii'' * ''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''longicornu'' (syn: ''Anacamptis longicornu'') — western

Mediterranean region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

. *''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''morio'' *''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''picta'' * ''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''syriaca''

Distribution and habitat

It is a native of western

Eurasia 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 a ...

, ranging from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. In 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, ...

it is found in central-southern England, Wales and Ireland. It grows in unimproved grassy

meadows A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifici ...

, especially on limestone-rich soil. This species thrives where grass is cut once or twice a year after flowering is complete, or where it is grazed after flowering is complete.BSBI Species Account - Anacamptis morio
/ref> Cutting or mowing should not take place immediately after flowering but give time for seed dispersal. It can grow in dry or wet grazed meadows. It can also be found in coastal grasslands, quarries, churchyards, as well as on roadsides and lawns. On the European continent it is also found in alpine pasture and in xerothermic grassland on porphyry outcrops. The maximum altitude for this species is somewhere between 1500 and 2000m.

Ecology

Pollination is by bees. The flowers do not produce nectar, but can attract pollinators with their visual appearance. This nectar deception "facilitates the mixing of pollen between different individual plants, promotes genetic diversity in the species, and has been favored evolutionarily over nectar production." Plants cannot establish without a mycorrhizal partner. This makes them vulnerable to chemicals, particularly fungicides, but also other chemical applications, including fertilisers, which could reduce the prevalence of particular species of fungi.

Mycorrhizal fungi 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 ...

known to grow in association with the green-winged orchid include ''

Epulorhiza ''Tulasnella'' is a genus of effused (patch-forming) fungi in the order Cantharellales. Basidiocarps (fruit bodies), when visible, are typically smooth, ceraceous (waxy) to subgelatinous, frequently lilaceous to violet-grey, and formed on the un ...

repens'' (

Tulasnellaceae The Tulasnellaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. The family comprises mainly effused (patch-forming) fungi formerly referred to the "jelly fungi" or heterobasidiomycetes. Species are wood- or litter-rotting saprotrophs, but ...

) and ''Moniliopsis solani'' (

Ceratobasidiaceae The Ceratobasidiaceae are a family of fungi in the order Cantharellales. All species within the family have basidiocarps (fruit bodies) that are thin and effused. They have sometimes been included within the corticioid fungi or alternatively wit ...

Conservation

This species' conservation status is vulnerable and near threatened. It is a protected species in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

under the Wildlife (NI) Order of 1985.Orchis morio :: Flora of Northern Ireland web site
/ref> In 2001 ''Anacamptis morio'' was adopted as the logo for

Priory Vale Priory Vale is a community in the north of the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England, which comprises the urban villages of Redhouse, Oakhurst and Haydon End. Although not strictly part of Priory Vale, the nearby village of Taw Hill completes ...

, the third and final instalment in Swindon's 'Northern Expansion' project. Due to a rapid decline in the species they are protected in certain cases, although still regarded as being quite common in the Swindon area, especially Clifford Meadow, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) off Thamesdown Drive,

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

References

External links

* Images. Habitats, habitus etc. and images of ''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''morio'' Anacamptis ''morio'' subsp. ''longicornu'', ''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''picta'', ''Anacamptis morio'' subsp. ''syriaca''
Den virtuella floran - Distribution

Swiss Orchid Foundation

BSBI Species Account - Anacamptis morio

Plantlife - Green-winged orchid

The Royal Society - The effects of nectar addition on pollen removal and geitonogamy in the non-rewarding orchid
{{Taxonbar, from=Q161153 morio Orchids of Europe Orchids of France Flora of Corsica Orchids of Lebanon Flora of the Balearic Islands Flora of Bulgaria Flora of Georgia (country) Flora of Greece Flora of Sardinia Flora of Sicily Flora of Slovenia Flora of North Africa Flora of Algeria Flora of Morocco Flora of Tunisia Flora of Syria Flora of Turkey Matorral shrubland Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Garden plants of Africa Garden plants of Europe