''Orchis simia'', commonly known as the monkey orchid, is a greyish pink to reddish
species of the genus ''
Orchis''. It gets its common name from its lobed
lip which mimics the general shape of a monkey's body.
The range of the species is central and southern
Europe, including southern
England, the
Mediterranean,
Russia,
Asia Minor,
Caucasus, northern
Iraq,
Iran to
Turkmenistan and northern
Africa where it occurs in grassland,
garrigue, scrub and open woodland, chiefly on limestone soils. It is absent from the
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
,
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
and
Sardinia.
On
Cyprus the species can be categorized as threatened,
[ and it became a protected species in the UK in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.]
Gallery
File:Orchis singe sauvage (Orchis simia), Hérault, 122624.jpg , Wild monkey orchid (''Orchis simia''), Hérault, France
References
External links
*
simia
Orchids of Europe
Orchids of Lebanon
Orchids of Russia
Flora of Iran
Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
{{Orchidoideae-stub