The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Himantoglossum hircinum
Lizard orchid is a wild European terrestrial orchid, rarely grown in gardens, that grows from a pair of tubers in dry meadows and grassy slopes. It is best left in the wild, since it is protected in many areas and very hard to keep in cultivation.
Himantoglossum hircinum, the lizard orchid, is a species of orchid in the genus Himantoglossum found in Europe and North Africa.
Orchinol, loroglossol and hircinol are phenanthrenoids that can be isolated from infected Loroglossum hircinum.
This orchid grows in dry meadows, rocky areas, and open woods. It tends to grow on south-facing grassy slopes, among Bromus and Brachypodium grasses. In France it is often found on roadsides. In the United Kingdom it grows to a maximum altitude of 850m.
Adriatic lizard orchid · Goat’s Tongue Orchid · Giant Orchid · Himantoglossum
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Himantoglossum hircinum 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.
