Dactylorhiza traunsteineri Narrow-leaved or Irish Marsh Orchid R DD N
According to Streeter the place where this is supposed to be found most often is at the edges of calcareous fens in marshy ground - exactly where this plant was. The long narrow leaves immediately stand out as something different even though the colour of the flower is typical orchid purple. The other common name for this plant is Irish Marsh Orchid so it was nice to see it in Ireland.
Taxonomists have changed the name of this orchid too and it is now to be known as Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides and subsumes both this and what we used to know as the Lapland orchid Dactylorhiza lapponica or D. traunsteineri ssp lapponica. In other words taxonomists now believe the identification of D. lapponica was wrong -it was an Irish Marsh-orchid after all. It'll all change again mark my words.
Whatever it's called it has a strange distribution with records dotted about Ireland as you would expect but a fair number on the north west coastal regions of Scotland, a very few in the south of England, some in Anglesey and on the Lleyn but a special group way out in east Anglia.