''Dactylorhiza maculata'', known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted 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 ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

plant of 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 widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to Russia. It is also found in Algeria, Morocco, and western Siberia.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

Etymology

The name of the genus ''Dactylorhiza'' is formed from the Greek words δάκτυλος 'daktylos' meaning 'finger' and ρίζα 'ridza' meaning 'root' and refers to the tubers of this plant, which are split into several tubercles. The specific epithet 'maculata', meaning 'spotted', refers to the stained leaves. The scientific binomial name of this plant was initially ''Orchis maculata'', 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 1753. The name was changed to the one currently accepted (''Dactylorhiza maculata'') 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. In German this plant is called ''Geflecktes Knabenkraut'', in French ''orchis tacheté'', and in Italian ''orchide macchiata'' or ''erba d'Adamo''.

Description

''Dactylorhiza maculata'' are usually in height, with a maximum of . These plants are bulbous geophytes, forming their buds in underground tubers or bulbs, organs that annually produce new stems, leaves and flowers. Furthermore these orchids are terrestrial: unlike epiphytes they do not live on other large plants. This orchid has an erect, glabrous and cylindrical stem, with a streaked surface. The leaves are oblong or oval-lanceolate, with dark ellipsoid-shaped spots on the surface (hence the species name). The leaves are amplexicaul and can be either radical (basal) or cauline. The underground part of the stem has two webbed tubers, each deeply divided into several lobes or tubercles (characteristic of the genus ''Dactylorhiza''). The first one has the important function of supplying the stem whilst the second collects nutrients 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 dense spikes. The flowers grow in the axils of bracts membranous and lanceolate-shaped. Their colours vary from light pink to purple or white with darker streaks mainly on the labellum (sometimes at the margins of tepals). The flowers reach on average . The flowers 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 insect pollinated.

Habitat

The heath spotted orchid prefers sunny places on lowlands or hills. It can be found in slightly damp meadows but also in the undergrowth of dry forests, in areas with bushes and at the edges of streams. It grows on siliceous and calcareous substrate, at an altitude up to above sea level.

Ecology

Orchids in the genus ''Dactylorhiza'' are mycorrhizal generalists. ''D. maculata'' has been found to form associations with a range of common species of

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 ...

in the

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 ...

, as well as with species in the

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 ...

and

Sebacinales The Sebacinales are an order of fungi in the class Agaricomycetes. Taxa have a widespread distribution and are mostly terrestrial, many forming mycorrhizas with a wide variety of plants, including orchids Orchids are plants that belong to t ...

. ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' is pollinated by insects, especially

bumblebees 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 ...

. The flowers are 'food deceptive', i.e. do not provide nectar for their pollinators.Nordic Journal of Botany - Pollination and Reproductive Success of Two Colour Variants of a Deceptive Orchid, ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' (Orchidaceae)
/ref>

Subspecies

Many names have been proposed for species and varieties in the species. As of June 2014, the following are accepted: # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''maculata'' (L.) Soó - most of species range # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''battandieri'' (Raynaud) H.Baumann & Künkele (1988) - Algeria # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''caramulensis'' Verm. (1970) - France, Spain, Portugal # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''elodes'' (Griseb.) Soó (1962) - much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to European Russia # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''ericetorum'' (E.F.Linton) P.F.Hunt & Summerh. (1965) - British Isles, Sweden, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''islandica'' (Á.Löve & D.Löve) Soó (1962) - Iceland # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''podesta'' (Landwehr) Kreutz in C.A.J.Kreutz & H.Dekker (2000) - Netherlands # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''savogiensis'' (D.Tyteca & Gathoye) Kreutz (2004) - France, Spain, Italy # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''schurii'' (Klinge) Soó (1967) - Romania, Ukraine # ''Dactylorhiza maculata'' subsp. ''transsilvanica'' (Schur) Soó (1962) - Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Czech Republic

Gallery

File:Orchidaceae - Dactylorhiza maculata-1.JPG, Flowers File:Orchidaceae - Dactylorhiza maculata-2.JPG, Close-up on inflorescence File:Dactylorhiza maculata in a garden.jpg, Inflorescence File:Dactylorhiza maculata LC0233.jpg, Inflorescence File:Dactylorhiza maculata20090812 084.jpg, Fruits File:Dactylorhiza maculata20090914 071.jpg, The tubers are split into several tubercles, hence the name Dactylorhiza File:Orchidaceae - Dactylorhiza maculata-4.JPG, The stained leaf, hence the name "maculata" meaning =spotted

References

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

External links

Den virtuella floran - Distribution

Biolib

''Dactylorhiza maculata''

Manfred Hennecke
{{Taxonbar, from=Q737615 maculata Plants described in 1753 Orchids of Europe Orchids of Russia Flora of Siberia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus