Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. pulchella

A long day, with three site visits.

Ireland seems green. I mean it is green, 500 shades of green, doubly so when the sun shines, but a lot is given over to farming, so the parts showing the original nature are pretty much restricted to nooks and corners and reserves, which can mean having to travel miles between them to see a particular species.

So after a hearty Irish breakfast at eight, we assembled to load the cars at nine for the hour long drive to a small nature reserve about 70km north of Sligo.

We headed north through Ballyshannon and Donegal, the roads were good and traffic light. One feature is even two lane roads have a hard shoulder to the left of a dotted yellow line, for tractors mainly, it seems, but slow driver can, but usually don't, pull over.

There are regular filling stations, each with a place where you can get freshly made sandwiches or rolls. Like Subway but with real bread. It is true, that Subway cannot call their bread "bread" as it contains too much sugar.

So it goes.

After Donegal, we leave the main roads and head towards the coast. On the edge of an estuary, inland from some dunes, we stop and park.

The walk down the lane was rewarded with dozens of damselflies in the hedge, many defying identification for now anyways.

Over a stone style onto the reserve, and the first magenta coloured Early Marsh revealed itself.

On beside the brook we went, before the landscape opened out, and went out onto the flood plane, where there were many more Early Marsh, magenta and dark pink, so emerging Heath Spotted and several Lesser Butterflies just about to flower.

A huge tick was the arrival of a newly emerged Marsh Fritillary, who gave good long displays of under and overwings, so much so we all got shots.

Back to the car past the demselflies and butterflies of the hedge, then all back in the car drive further north to St John's Point, collecting sandwiches and wraps from a filling station on the way.

This was our second site for the day: a peninsular stretching out into the east Atlantic, living in a bog nearly at the end, soaking their roots hidden from the track that passes nearby.

In the distance, a thunderstorm rumbled, and the sunny and warm morning had given way to a darker and gloomier afternoon with the promise of rain sooner rather than later.

We saw the orchid, though I bailed again on a trek to see more lower down in wetter conditions, so limped back to the car.

I sat and listened to podcasts while people watching as they came to the small beach. All the while, distant thunder echoed around the landscape, getting more distant.

Over an hour later, the others came back, so we drove over an hour away to a large dune system.

It had been a long day, we were tired, and more storms were building, the sunshine of the morning was a distant memory, and a cool wind had set in.

We walked in file up into the dunes, turning off after a while, looking for tiny spikes among the other vegetation.

After an hour, over a dozen were found, but all had done over to seed and were going brown, as the Dense Flowered Orchid only flowers for a few days.

But these counts.

I walked back to the car while the rest did some more exploring, and so at half seven we all climbed in, happy with the day, and dreaming of fish and chips from a nearby town. But the chippy closed at eight and was half an hour away, and sure enough when we arrived, it was closing.

We went to a nearby bar, who were very accommodating in seating eight without reservations and serving us promptly and for me, one of the best vegetable curries I have had.

The two pints of Guinness I fell were well earned.

After that, we went back outside, the rain had arrived, so we rushed back to the car, and had a 70 minute drive through the gathering gloom back to Sligo, not getting back until half ten.

Phew.

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The Early Marsh-orchid is one of our most beautiful and enigmatic wild orchids. The flowers occur in four colours, and they are sufficiently different from one another to have all been given subspecies status: a pale salmon pink, Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. incarnata; brick red, Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea; purple, Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. pulchella; and cream Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. ochroleuca. The latter is confined to the East Anglian fens. In favoured habitats Dactylorhiza incarnata can carpet the ground in early spring, and in most good sites it is easy to find two or more of the subspecies growing in close proximity. In addition to the above there is also another subspecies. Sometimes called the Flecked Marsh-orchid or Leopard Orchid, Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. cruenta is known only from part of western Ireland and a few sites in Scotland; it is classified as Endangered in the UK, while in Ireland, where it mainly occurs in The Burren, it is also under threat from habitat degradation. Early Marsh-orchid in all its variations flowers between mid May and late June. The subspecies which occur in England, Scotland and Wales are localised but can be abundant in good years. With the exception of Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. pulchella (which is tolerant of more acid conditions and occurs in bogs and on heathland), these orchids favour alkaline substrates and can be found in fens, wet alkaline meadows and sand-dune slacks. On the European mainland, Dactylorhiza incarnata is recorded from Scandinavia in the north to Italy and Spain in the south.

D. incarnata subsp. incarnata
Plant: 7 to 40cm but typically 20 to 40cm; stem pale green or yellowish, usually hollow.
Leaves: bright green; 3 to 5 broad, keeled sheathing leaves at base of stem, and 1 or 2 non sheathing leaves higher up.
Bracts: bright green, sometimes flushed pink.
Flowers: 10 to 70 flowers in a densely-packed inflorescence; pale pink, often salmon pink. Sepals and petals paler than the lip; upper sepal and petals form a tight hood over the lip. Lip pale pink, slightly lobed with lateral lobes deflected downwards, liberally covered with dark-pink dots within loops.

D. incarnata subsp. coccinea
Very similar to ssp. incarnata but a smaller, more squat plant with much darker, almost red, flowers. Its leaves are narrower and more pointed.

D. incarnata subsp. pulchella
The flowers of this subspecies are much closer in colour to Southern Marsh-Orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa and have darker, heavily marked flowers. Its tolerance of more acid condtions sets it apart.

D. incarnata subsp. ochroleuca
A much larger plant growing up to 70cm in height, with broad leaves and a robust stem. Its flowers are a pale creamy yellow. The lip is large and deeply tri-lobed. Found only in East Anglia.

D. incarnata subsp. cruenta
A more slender plant with more erect leaves. The majority of the plants have leaves that are marked with dark brown spots - sometimes on both sides. Its flowers are paler pink than those of D. incarnata subsp. pulchella, and the lips are distinctly tri-lobed with clearly defined loop markings with a few dots within. D. incarnata subsp. cruenta is limited to western Ireland and a few sites in Scotland.

Variations: Dactylorhiza incarnata var. punctata is a small plant with dotted leaves; it is recorded from Hampshire, Yorkshire and the Isle of Coll. Dactylorhiza incarnata var. leucantha has pure-white, unmarked flowers and is rare. Dactylorhiza incarnata var. ochrantha has pale-yellow unmarked flowers.

Hybrids: Dactylorhiza x kernerorum is a hybrid with Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii. Dactylorhiza x carnea is a hybrid with Heath Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza maculata. Dactylorhiza x wintoni is a hybrid with Southern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza praetermissa. Dactylorhiza x latirella is a hybrid with Northern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella. Dactylorhiza x dufftii is a hybrid with Narrow-leaved Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides. Dactylorhiza x aschersoniana is a hybrid with Irish Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza occidentalis.

Intergeneric Hybrid: X Dactylodenia vollmannii is a hybrid with a/the Gymnadenia species.

www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/orchidphotos/dactylorhiza-i...

Taken on: May 20, 2024

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Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. pulchella

Early Marsh Orchid

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