Orchid Gallery

Why orchids? I first became interested in the diversity of orchid flowers when I noticed the variety of Dactylorhiza marsh orchids that can be found growing in the bogs of North Wales, in particular at amazing botanical spots such as Cors Goch and Cors Bodelio. Not long afterwards, I found my first Bee Orchids (Ophrys apifera) and Marsh Helleborines (Epipactis palustris), and an obsession developed rapidly from there!

Orchids are flowering plants that belong to the extremely diverse botanical family Orchidaceae. As an evolutionary biologist, I love them for their amazing adaptations. They often have very specific relationships with pollinating insects, sometimes visited by only a single insect species. In these cases, the orchid flower and the insect have co-evolved for millions of years, and you can see evidence of this co-evolution in the anatomy and behaviour of both. Some of these interactions involve sexually deceptive mimicry where the orchid mimics the appearance or scent of a female insect. This attracts a male who tries to mate with the flower and he pollinates it in the process. These specific pollinator interactions are believed to be a major driver of orchid flower diversity: As orchid populations specialise to become maximally attractive to a particular pollinator, they diverge from populations visited more by other insects. Another amazing adaptation of orchids is that they nearly all have a symbiotic relationship with fungi where the fungus provides nutrients in the critical earliest stages of the orchid's life. Quite a few orchid species taken this fungal symbiosis to another level, and retain complete dependance on the fungus into adulthood. In those cases, orchids lose the need to photosynthesise for themselves and often become very strange and ghostly in appearance.

Switzerland, July 2024

The Dark-red Helleborine / Epipactis atrorubens

Common Twaylade / Neottia ovata 

The Bird's Nest Orchid / Neottia nidus-avis

The Red Helleborine Orchid / Cephalanthera rubra

The Lesser Butterfly Orchid / Platanthera bifolia and Greater Butterfly Orchid / Platanthera chlorantha

The Globe-flowered Orchid / Traunsteinera globosa

The Chalk Fragrant Orchid / Gymnadenia conopsea

Dark Vanilla Orchid / Gymnadenia rhelliani

Oxford, June 2024

Common Spotted Orchid / Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Bee Orchid / Ophrys apifera

Rhodes Island, Greece, April 2024

Thank you to Jon Dunn and Richard Bate for helping me to see so many wonderful orchids.

Limodorum abortivum

Serapias carica

Himantoglossum robertianum

Ophrys calypsus usual colours and rare white form 

Ophrys reinholdii 

Ophrys mammosa 

Ophrys ferrum-equinum

Ophrys umbilicata ssp. rhodia 

Ophrys cretica 

Ophrys orias and Ophrys cornitula

Ophrys tenthredinifera

Ophrys fuciflora 

Ophrys regis-ferdinandii

Ophrys speculum and Ophrys omegifera 

Additional Ophrys with species names I've forgotten (things like O.lutea, O.sicula, O.fusca):

Orchis anatolica

Orchis anthropophora 

Orchis provincialis 

Orchis italica 

Neotinea maculata and Anacamptis papilionacea 

Anacamptis pyramidalis 

Anacamptis laxiflora 

Anacamptis x gennarii  and Anacamptis santa 

Anacamptis coriophora 

Papua New Guinea, 2023

Thank you to Max Mal who showed me most of these amazing orchids.

Dendrobium sp. and Dendrobium rigidifolium

Bulbophyllum tricanaliferum

 Dendrobium subclausum and Mediocalar bifolium 

Dendrobium geotropum

Calanthe triplicata

Pedilochus flavum and Epiblastus basalis

 Subtribe Thelasiinae and Dendrobium habbemense 

Dendrobium sp. culiculimentum(?)

Glomera sp. and Calanthe arfakana

Dendrobium masaranse and Dendrobium sp.  (nardoides? helliwigianum?)

Tyrol, Austria, 2023

The Red Helleborine Orchid / Cephalanthera rubra

The Fly Orchid / Ophrys insectifera 

Common Twayblade Orchid / Neottia ovata 

Burnt-tip Orchid / Orchis ustulata 

Small White Orchid / Pseudorchis alba 

Lesser Butterfly Orchid / Platanthera bifolia 

Common Spotted Orchid / Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Chalk Fragrant Orchid / Gymnadenia conopsea

Also seen at this site: The Bird's Nest Orchid / Neottia nidus-avis, Broad-leaved Marsh Orchid / Dactylorhiza majalis, and the Lady's Slipper orchid / Cypripedium calceolus (with dead flowers).

Hartslock, June 2023

The White Helleborine Orchid / Cephalanthera damasonium

Hybrid of Monkey Orchid (Orchis simia) and the Lady Orchid (Orchis purpurea)

Ophrys apifera

Anacamptis pyramidalis

Captive Orchids

Bulbophyllum nymphopolitanum

Paphiopedelium 

Calanthe sp.