22 Monday Apr 2024
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It feels like true spring now – migrating birds rolling through, several butterfly species out and about, first damselflies flitting through the air, and now the first orchid of the season is in bloom. I hadn’t thought I’d find any orchids during my woodland walk yesterday so seeing several spikes of Early-purple orchid (Orchis mascula) was a real treat.
22 Friday Apr 2022
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I have no fungi to share this Friday so let’s have a floral Friday theme instead. This sublime bloom is my first orchid of the year, an Early-purple (Orchis mascula), one of three surprise finds during a woodland walk on Wednesday.
07 Friday May 2021
Posted in flowers, spring, wildflowers
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Tags
British native orchids, British orchids, Early-purple orchid, native orchids, Orchis mascula, Spring colour
The 2021 orchid season has begun!
In my local area, the first orchids to bloom are the Early-purples (Orchis mascula) and this week I was delighted to find them in two local areas, one a nature reserve, the other a woodland I regularly visit.
The Plantlife website notes that there is a legend the ‘Early Purple Orchid grew under Christ’s cross, and the leaves were splattered with the blood of Christ, have resulted in the names Gethesmane and cross flower.’
The website also lists some of this orchid’s other vernacular names: ‘adder’s meat, bloody butchers, red butchers, goosey ganders, kecklegs, kettle cases and kite’s legs’. Personally, I just call them beautiful!