Gymnadenia conopsea

Fragrant orchid

Photographed Oxfordshire, 24 June 2003

This photograph shows one of the orchids pollinators at work - the orchid pollinia can be seen on the tongue of the Hummingbird hawkmoth  (Macroglossum stellatarum). The fragrant orchid, which has a clove like scent, is a winter green orchid which produces its leaves from October to January. It is able to hybridise with the other Gymnadenias (previously called Nigritellas) which are vanilla scented to give rise to spectacular smelling and looking hybrids, some of which can be seen in this website. DNA sequencing has resulted in the fragrant orchid being split into three similar looking species - the above, Marsh fragrant G. densiflora and Heath fragrant G. borealis.