Greenish-white flowers with wide-spreading 'wings', a long spur, and a scent that is strongest at night, above two broad shiny basal leaves
Greater butterfly orchid — Platanthera chlorantha.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Greater butterfly orchid
Native · flowers May–Jul · chalk hay meadows, grassland and ancient woodland
Platanthera chlorantha — Orchidaceae
The greater butterfly orchid is a tall orchid with loose spikes of greenish-white flowers whose spreading sepals and petals look like the wings of a pale butterfly. Its scent is strongest at night to draw in moths, which carry its pollen. It has declined and is Near Threatened in Great Britain, and is easily confused with the lesser butterfly orchid.
How to spot them
- ▸Loose spike of large, greenish-white flowers with spreading, wing-like sepals and petals and a long, narrow, tongue-like lip
- ▸Two large, broad, shiny, elliptical, unspotted leaves near the base, with smaller leaves up the stem
- ▸The long thin spur curves down behind the flower, and the flowers give off a strong scent at night
- ▸Chalk grassland, hay meadows and ancient woodland on lime-rich soil, May to July
- ▸The look-alike lesser butterfly orchid is a smaller plant with smaller flowers; the greater's two pollen masses diverge, while the lesser's are close together and parallel
How to know it
The field test against its smaller cousin is the two pollen masses inside each flower, which here angle apart rather than lying parallel and close together
Greater butterfly orchid — the lesser butterfly orchid has parallel pollinia.
Its scent is strongest after dark to attract night-flying moths, the insects that pollinate it
Greater butterfly orchid — Wildlife Trusts.
Listed as Near Threatened on the Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain, and lost from many hay meadows
Greater butterfly orchid.
Its species name means 'green-flowered' and it grows in hay meadows, grassland and ancient woods on chalk
Greater butterfly orchid — chlorantha.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Orchidaceae; chlorantha means 'green-flowered'
- •Native; flowers May to July (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Wildlife Trusts: it produces a strong scent at night and is visited by night-flying moths
- •Listed as Near Threatened on the Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Wildlife Trusts identification: the lesser butterfly orchid holds its two pollen-bearing structures parallel and much closer together, while in the greater they diverge
- •Grows in hay meadows, grasslands and ancient woodland on chalk
- •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
- The Wildlife Trusts — Greater butterfly-orchid
- legislation.gov.uk — Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, section 13