Uniquely identifiable characteristics: for an orchid, the flower spike of fragrant orchid is exceptionally long.

Distinguishing Feature : A group of these orchids exhibit a flagrant (or fragrant) disregard for permeating the air with a delightful aroma, providing that the olfactory recipient does not suffer from anosmia.

There are three sub-species of Fragrant Orchid; shown above is just one of them: Chalk or Common Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia Conopsea). The other two are Marsh Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia Conopsea ssp densiflora) and Heath Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia Conopsea ssp borealis). There has been some confusion about the existence and names of the sub-species mentioned above, not least because they are so very nearly indistinguishable and are often confused with each other, or lumped together as one. But genetic analysis has shown the above three sub-species to be correct. Hybrids between them might occur, but the three seldom grow together in the same place, so, in practice, hybrids do not generally occur.

The above photographs correspond with that of Chalk or Common Fragrant Orchid. The main differences between the three are habitat, and smell, but minor variations in shape and physical dimensions of the flowers also occur.

Chalk or Common Fragrant Orchid grows in chalk and limestone grassland, flowers early June to mid-July, and smells sickly sweet as if acidic or rancid, whereas Heath Fragrant Orchid grows in mildly acidic to base-rich heathland flushes (and very rarely in chalk grassland), smells sweetly a little like cloves and without rancid overtones and flowers a little later June to August. Marsh Fragrant Orchid, on the other hand, prefers fens, smells similar to the Heath sub-species but flowers in-between the two from early July to August.

There is also a white variety, Gymnadenia Conopsea var. albiflora, which occurs fairly frequently.

The distributions of the three are un-certain, since previously (and probably currently) there is confusion in identification.

Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea) hybridises with:

• Lesser Butterfly Orchid (Plantathera bifolia)
• Pyramidal Orchid
• Small-White Orchid (Pseudorchis albida)
• Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride)
• Common-Spotted (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)
• Heath-Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata ssp. ericetorum)
• Northern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella)
• Early Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata)

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