The orchids
Orchis (Orchis pauciflora Ten.)
Orchis derives from a Greek word that means testicle and it refers to the form of tubercles root.
It is tall not more than 30 cm; the leaves are long about 10 cm, all basal, ovate-elongated, green, not maculated. The flowers are light yellow; labellum of more intense yellow colour and dotted of dark; cylindrical spur and curved upwards.
It is a Mediterranean species, that is found in the clearings and in the arid lawn of limestone substratum, up to 1800 m of altitude; it blooms between April and May.
The pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis (L.) L.C.M.Reich.)
The term pyramidalis refers to the form of the inflorescence, wider in the basal part and gradually pointed upwards.
It is 20-30 cm tall, it has linear leaves, the basal ones long about 15 cm, those in the upper part shorter that wrap the trunk. The flowers are pink-purplish, small and numerous. The labellum is trilobes and prolonged at the back in a threadlike spur, descending.
It lives in the grassy and sunny clearings on limestone, up to 1400 m above sea level; it blooms between April and June.
The chalk fragrant orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea (L.) R.Br.)
Its trunk is tall from 20 to 70 cm; the leaves are tall from 3 to 7 cm, linear, long, placed in basal rosette. The inflorescence is cylindrical, long up to 25 cm; the flowers are small and numerous, from light pink to violets, perfumed of vanilla; the labellum is divided into three equal lobes, prolonged at the beck in a filiform spur, about twice as long as the ovary, curved downwards.
It lives in the grasses, sunny clearings and in the dry and swampy mountain grazing, mostly on limestone, until the mountain peaks; it blooms between May and July.
The early spring orchis (Orchis mascula (L.) L.)
The erect trunk is tall up to 60 cm; the terminal ear long up to 25 cm; the flowers are of red-violet colour with trilobe labellum; the central lobe is longer than the lateral ones. The spur is slightly upwards.
The leaves are widely elongated, long up to 20 cm, shiny green with thin brown dotting, denser nearby the trunk, inserted in the lower part of the trunk.
It lives in the forests, in the clearings and in the grazing, up to 2000 m above sea level; it blooms between April and June.
The early spider-orchid (Ophrys sphegodes Miller)
The trunk is tall 15-45 cm; the ear is 4-10 cm tall, with greenish flowers with oval labellum, brown-reddish, velvety, in which it can be seen a bright stain with the shape of H (the “mirror”), that is often surrounded by a thin white line. It lives in the arid grasses, up to 1200 m of altitude; it blooms between March and May.
The labellum recalls the form of the abdomen of some insects, mostly wasps, that are attracted, “deceived”, and perching on the flowers they have the function of pollinators, carrying out the pollen from a flower to the other.
Gymnadenia odoratissima (Gymnadenia odoratissima (L.) L.C.M.Rich.)
It is tall 15-35 cm, it is similar to G. conopsea but smaller and slighter. The leaves are linear in the lower part of the trunk; the inflorescence is dense and cylindrical of small flowers, with the labellum that is longer rather than large, trilobe, with the central lobe that is much longer than the lateral ones; the spur is very thin, long like the ovary and curved downwards.
The flowers are pink and white; they emanate a pleasant and intense perfume of vanilla. It lives in the grassy and sunny clearings, in the dry and humid mountain grazing, on limestone substratum from 300 m to the peaks; it blooms between May and July.
In Italy it is found in the Alpine region, in the northern Apennines and on the Apuan Alps.
The heath spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata (L.) Soò s.l.)
Dactylorhiza derives from two Greek words that mean finger and root, and it is related to the shape of the tubers, deeply divided to look like the fingers.
The leaves are elongated, with parallel ribs, with so many distinctive dark stains.
The trunk is erect and it is 20-70 cm tall; the ear is 5-15 cm long of many pink-veined flowers of violet; the labellum is trilobe.
It lives in the forests, in the clearings and in the humid grasses, up to 2000 m above sea level; it is maybe the more common orchid on the Apuan Alps. It blooms from May to July.
The broad-leaved helleborine (Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz)
It is a species very similar to the congenere E. atrorubens.
The central leaves of the trunk are much longer than the internodes. The trunk and the ovary are from lightly pubescent to hairless. The flowers have a light colour, green-pinkish; the epichilo is flat with smooth callosity. It blooms from June to August (after E. atrorubens), in the forests and among the bushes; it prefers the shady areas. It lives from 50 to 2000 m above sea level.
The red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubra (L.) Rich.)
The trunk is 20-60 cm tall, with 5-8 alternated and elongated leaves.
The flowers are pink-purplish, at the apex of the trunk: each one with a bract similar to a leaf, that is long almost like the flower itself; two lateral, elongated and sharp “sepals”, that are position horizontally. As we have just mentioned in Epipactis, the labellum is divided in ipochilo and epichilo.
The roots have adventitious roots that allow the vegetative reproduction. It blooms from May to July, up to 1700 m above sea level in the mixed forests and in the beech woods, especially on limestone soil.
The man orchid (Orchis anthropophora (L.) All.)
The trunk is 20-50 cm tall; the terminal inflorescence with linear ear-shaped, that brought many yellow-greenish flowers with the tepals gathered in a “helmet”, from which hang the trilobe labellum, with the central lobe divided into two linear laciniae, and the two lateral lobes linear too, in order to look like a human body, with two arms and two legs. It lives in the grasses and in the clearings, up to 1600 m above sea level, especially on limestone. It blooms between April and June.
The royal helleborine (Epipactis atrorubens (Hoffm. ex Bernh.) Besser)
The erect trunk is tall from 20 to 70 cm; 6-11 leaves, alternated, ovate-elongated.
The purplish-brownish flowers are positioned in an elongated ear, unilateral. Each one is formed by 6 tepals, of wich 5 very similar, ovate-sharp, and one well differentiated, the labellum, point downwards, divided into two parts (ipochilo and epichilo) by a central narrowing.
It lives from 50 to 2000 m above sea level, especially on the limestone substratum, in the forests, in the clearings and in the arid grasses. It blooms between June and July.
The narrow-leaved helleborine (Cephalanthera longifolia (L.) Fritsch)
The trunk is 20-60 cm tall, with 6-10 leaves alternated and linear-elongated.
The flowers are 10-20, white, with short bract, in terminal inflorescence; generally closed, they open only in the hotter and brighter hours of the day.
It lives up to 1800 m above sea level in the forests and in the clearings, on limestone substratum, where it blooms between May and June.