Some French wild orchids

[Mr.Fakename]

Orchids were very, very late this year.
Some populations straight up disappeared, I don't know if they're dead/poached or will come back next season.

Anyway:



Ophrys araneola (broken phone lens for special blurred effect)





A nice very light form of Anacamptis pyramidalis





Another light coloured plant, Serapias vomeracea




No clue what that is, Epipactis maybe?

[neophyte]

Nice!! I like that shot with both the Anacamptis and the Serapias.

I don't think the mystery plant is an orchid.

Is it hard to find these, by the way? Or are they sort of everywhere?

[DirtyCoconuts]

Very nice!!

Sad to hear about some spots disappearing,...I hope it’s just an off year bc of the late spring maybe?

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by neophyte

...
I don't think the mystery plant is an orchid.
...

Looks minty to me.

[Mr.Fakename]

Originally Posted by neophyte

Nice!! I like that shot with both the Anacamptis and the Serapias.

I don't think the mystery plant is an orchid.

Is it hard to find these, by the way? Or are they sort of everywhere?

I don't know for sure... Reminds me of parasitic plants. I'll send a mail to qualified people!

Surprisingly difficult to find. They're very picky about their location, as the conditions are extremely hard on them.
Temps get ridiculously high during summer, and every year water gets more scarce. They only survive in a few, very distinct places.

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Very nice!!

Sad to hear about some spots disappearing,...I hope it’s just an off year bc of the late spring maybe?

Maybe! Thankfully local authorities have started to take action, by monitoring/protecting some species, encouraging people to avoid mowing them and so on.

[Roberta]

Thank you for the photos! It is wonderful to see them in-situ. I hope that this was just an off year.

[camille1585]

These are beautiful thanks for sharing!! I miss living in France, there were so many more different sorts of orchids in the region than there are here.


I agree with Neophyte that the mystery plant isn't an orchid. It's a species of Orobanche, which is a root parasitic plant.

[Mr.Fakename]

Originally Posted by camille1585

These are beautiful thanks for sharing!! I miss living in France, there were so many more different sorts of orchids in the region than there are here.


I agree with Neophyte that the mystery plant isn't an orchid. It's a species of Orobanche, which is a root parasitic plant.

There are a lot of very nice bog and heath orchids in the Netherlands too

Orchideeen in Nederland | KNNV | Werkgroep Europese Orchideeen


Regarding the "mystery plant", you're right! I did some reading, and came to the conclusion it's probably Orobanche minor. They're widespread but I don't recall seeing one before.
Fascinating stuff.

[camille1585]

If you are someone like me who likes to identify interesting plants you come across during walks, try the app called PlantNet. It was developed by a French consortium (including the CIRAD) and does a pretty darn good job of identifying plants. I just put your mystery plant through it so sew what it comes up with, and the first hit was Orobanche minor!

[neophyte]

Or iNaturalist!

I'm not familiar with too many genera outside the Orchidaceae, but we also have a hemiparasitic genus in the Orobanchaceae over here in California, Castilleja. And PaphMadMan is right; it's more closely allied with the mints and is in the Lamiales. Although Lamiales is a pretty broad group.