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Heath spotted orchid

Dactylorhiza maculata

Heath spotted orchid
Photo: Jörg Hempel, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Dactylorhiza maculata is a hardy, terrestrial tuberous orchid of European moors, meadows and damp woodland, grown mainly by naturalists and in wild or native gardens. It thrives in sun or light shade and in consistently moist, unfertilised soil.

Family
Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Grows as
Perennial, Orchid
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep soil consistently moist during the growing season, avoiding waterlogging, and water less while dormant.
Soil
Moist, humus-rich, neutral to slightly acidic soil or a moisture-retentive mix; tolerates siliceous or calcareous substrate.
Temperature
Hardy to well below freezing; grows in cool temperate climates and at high altitude, dormant through winter.
How easy
Hard
Native range
NW. Africa, Europe to Siberia
Climate
temperate

About

Dactylorhiza maculata, known as the heath spotted-orchid or moorland spotted orchid, is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in mountainous regions across much of Europe from Portugal and Iceland east to Russia. It is also found in Algeria, Morocco, and western Siberia. It prefers woods, moorland, bogs, marshes, pastureland and meadows.

Where it grows

The heath spotted orchid prefers sunny places on lowlands or hills. It can be found in slightly damp meadows but also in the undergrowth of dry forests, in areas with bushes and at the edges of streams. It grows on siliceous and calcareous substrate, at elevations up to 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level. In Northern Europe it flowers in June-July.

Other Dactylorhiza plants

Stately Dactylorhiza · Richly-Leaved Dactylorhiza

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dactylorhiza maculata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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