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Portrait of Lizard orchid

Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Lizard orchid

Native · flowers Jun–Jul · chalk grassland, dunes and quarries in south-east England

Himantoglossum hircinum — Orchidaceae

The lizard orchid is one of Britain's strangest wildflowers: a tall, ungainly spike whose flowers each have a long, twisted, ribbon-like lip like a lizard's tail, and a smell that has been compared to a billy goat. It was thought extinct around 1900, was rediscovered in the 1920s, and has recently been expanding its range in the warming south.

How to spot them

  • ▸Tall, sturdy spike up to about a metre, carrying as many as 80 densely packed greenish flowers
  • ▸Each flower has a hood of pale grey-green streaked with purple, and a very long, ribbon-like, spirally twisted lip
  • ▸The lip's side lobes look like a lizard's legs and the long central strap like its tail, hence the name
  • ▸A strong smell of goats, particularly on warm days
  • ▸Chalk grassland, dunes, road verges and old quarries, mostly in south-east England, June to July

How to know it

A tall, untidy spike with a long, curling, ribbon-like lip on every flower, like a reptile's tail, and a strong smell of goats

Lizard orchid — Himantoglossum hircinum.

Its species name is Latin for 'of the goat', from its rank smell

Lizard orchid — hircinum.

Its genus name means 'strap tongue', from the long twisted lip

Lizard orchid — Himantoglossum.

Presumed extinct in Britain around 1900, it was rediscovered in the 1920s and is legally protected on Schedule 8

Lizard orchid — Wildlife Trusts.

A continental species at the edge of its range in south-east England, which has expanded northwards as the climate has warmed

Lizard orchid — BSBI.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Family Orchidaceae; hircinum is Latin for 'goat-like' and Himantoglossum is Greek for 'strap tongue'
  • •Native to south-east England; flowers June to July (Wildlife Trusts) and can reach one metre with up to 80 flowers per spike
  • •Wildlife Trusts: flowers smell strongly of goats
  • •Presumed extinct around 1900 but rediscovered in the 1920s, according to the Wildlife Trusts; numbers have fluctuated with warm periods
  • •BSBI: populations have increased at their north-eastern margin in recent decades, suggesting a northward range shift; it was rated Near Threatened in the 2005 GB Red Data List
  • •Grows on calcareous grassland, sand or gravel, on south-facing slopes in warm microclimates
  • •Listed on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: it is an offence intentionally to pick, uproot or destroy it. Never dig up or pick any wild orchid

Drill it — 7 cards

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Sources