Wednesday, 2 June 2021

Tri-lipped fly orchid at Homefield Wood NR

Within the main grouping of 'normal' woodland flies at Homefield Wood NR, one fly orchid stood out as different. This aberrant had three lips and a 'normal' set of sepals.  

A 'normal' fly orchid.

The aberrant tri-lipped fly orchid.  

The whole plant- the individual appears completely normal apart from the flowers.

Two of the buds are now in flower, with a few left to open up- it would be interesting to see how this individual progresses.

Last year, I found a malformed common twayblade at Headend Quarry, which had a pair of flowers fused together, and such had double the number of sepals, however the fly orchid appears to consistent, and only has a single set of sepals.



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