A pale flesh-pink orchid with narrow yellowish leaves whose tips are hooded, growing in a wet, lime-rich fen or dune slack
Early marsh orchid — Dactylorhiza incarnata.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Early marsh orchid
Native · flowers May–Jul · base-rich fens, wet meadows and dune slacks
Dactylorhiza incarnata — Orchidaceae
The early marsh orchid is a pale, flesh-pink orchid of lime-rich wet ground: fens, damp meadows and dune slacks. It flowers earlier than most of the other marsh orchids, and is told from them by its narrow, hooded leaf tips, its salmon or flesh-coloured flowers, and a lip whose sides are turned back so that it looks narrow from the front.
How to spot them
- ▸Flowers are pale flesh-pink or salmon (incarnata means 'flesh-coloured'), sometimes cream or, in local forms, deep red or purple
- ▸The lip has its sides turned back so it looks narrow from the front, with two dark loop-marks side by side
- ▸Leaves are narrow, lance-shaped, yellowish-green and mostly unspotted, with hooded tips as if pinched (cucullate)
- ▸Stem hollow when squeezed; 4 to 5 upright leaves
- ▸Wet, lime-rich ground: fens, wet meadows, dune slacks; May to July
- ▸Look-alike: southern marsh orchid is a deeper pink, taller and stouter, with a broader, flatter lip and broader keeled leaves; spotted orchids have solid stems
How to know it
Seen from the front, its lip looks narrow because the sides are curled back, and it carries two dark loops side by side
Early marsh orchid.
Its species name means 'flesh-coloured', and it is paler and more salmon than the deeper pink marsh orchid of similar places
Early marsh orchid — incarnata.
Leaves are unspotted, narrow and hooded at the tip, and the stem is hollow
Early marsh orchid.
It grows only on damp, calcareous ground, which is why it does well in dune slacks that flood in winter and early spring
Early marsh orchid.
Widespread across Britain but increasingly marginalised as fens and wet meadows are drained
Early marsh orchid.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Orchidaceae; incarnata means 'flesh-coloured', from the flowers
- •Native; flowers May to July (NatureSpot); the season varies with latitude and subspecies
- •Grows in damp, calcareous habitats: wet meadows, fens and dune slacks
- •Leaves are 4 to 7 (NatureSpot: 4 to 5), erect, lance-shaped, yellowish-green and hooded at the tip
- •Lip sides turned back so it appears narrow from the front, usually with two distinct dark loop-marks side by side (NatureSpot)
- •Stem is usually hollow, like all the marsh orchids, and can be checked by gently squeezing the base
- •Several subspecies are recognised, including forms with deep red flowers and a very rare cream-yellow subspecies in England that has been reintroduced using symbiotic seedlings
- •Not on Schedule 8, but it is an offence under section 13(1)(b) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for anyone who is not an authorised person to intentionally uproot any wild plant. Do not dig up wild orchids
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- NatureSpot — Early Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata)
- legislation.gov.uk — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 13