Irish Wildflowers - Greater Butterfly-orchid

Photographs: Ballingeary, Co.Cork

Greater Butterfly-orchid
Platanthera chlorantha
Magairlín mór an fhéileacáin
Family: Orchidaceae

Flowering time: June-July. Perennial. Native.

Loose spike of greenish-white flowers, strongly night-scented. Long leafy bracts,
undivided strap-shaped lip. Long spur, curved downwards. Pollinia (2 yellowish strips below hood) converge at top, 4mm apart at base. (Closer, parallel in Lesser Butterfly-orchid). Two unspotted, blunt basal leaves. Height: 30-40cm.

Well-drained calcareous soils, rough pasture, light woodland. Very occasionally found on less-acidic moorland, wet heathy pasture, sand dunes.

Photographs: Ballingeary, Co.Cork. June 2007

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