FROG ORCHID
Dactyorhiza viridis
(Formerly: Habenaria viridis and Coeloglossum viride)
Orchid [Orchidaceae] 
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Orchid [Orchidaceae]
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| July 2007, Harris, Outer Hebrides July 2007 | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
| A short orchid, only between 5 to 15cm tall and rarely up to a foot. Between 3 and 5 strap-shaped basal leaves. Compact flowering spike, some plants having prominent long bracts, as here. |
| July 2007, Harris, Outer Hebrides July 2007 | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
| A short compact cowlof three sepals forming a globular shape. Sepals green in wetter conditions, reddish in dryer conditions. A long, greenish, almost parallel-sided tongue with three short rounded lobes protrudes from the cowl of sepals. Basal leaves have but one vein. |
| July 2007, Harris, Outer Hebrides July 2007 | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
| Red cowl indicative of drier conditions. The long green tongue has two longer outer lobes, and a shorter middle lobe (dead centre). |
| August 2009, Island of Coll, Hebrides, Scotland. | Photo: © Phil And Ann Farrer |
Barely taller than some nearby Eyebright. A spent flower going to seed. |
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Hybridises with :
Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature :
No relation to : Flowers late June to early September. The colour of the sepals varies depending upon the moisture conditions of the soil: yellow-green in wetter sites, and red-brown in drier ones. The yellow-green ones give rise to the latin name viridis. Habitat in the South is on grassy places and short turf on limey soils, elsewhere it grows in meadows, mountain ledges or dunes. Flowering in specific places is erratic from year to year, but sometimes individual specimens can flower 7 years contiguously. ANY TEXT GOES HERE |
 Coeloglossum (Frog Orchid) |
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Orchid [Orchidaceae]
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