Dactylorhiza sambucina Elder-flowered Orchid
This orchid is supposed to exist in two forms: yellow and red but in the same field and growing very close to each other we found a mixture of colours making the species look as though it had hybridised.
The English name (Elder-flowered Orchid) is because the flowers are supposed to smell of elder flowers but if they do, the scent was certainly too faint for me to detect on this rather damp day in the mountains.
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| Dactylorhiza sambucina (Yellow whole) | Dactylorhiza sambucina (Mixed close) | Dactylorhiza sambucina (Red close) | Dactylorhiza sambucina (Red whole) |
Field near Cirque de Troumousse, French Pyrenees, 8th June 2009
Added on December 5th 2009, updated 28th March 2010, corrected 6th August 2010