Dactylorhiza elata (Poiret) Soó 1962 Photo courtesy of F.Dusak and the Orchids of France and Europe

LATE to EARLY

D praetermissa Group

Common Name The Stately Dactylorhiza

Flower Size

A medium to giant sized, cool growing terrestrial orchid from Portugal, Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in fens, damp meadows, seapages and banks at elevations up to 2500 meters with a hollow stemcarrying 5 to 10, cauline, narrowly to broadly ovate-lanceolate, unspotted to rarely lightly spotted, erect leaves that are smaller in size and more bractlike as they near inflorescence that blooms in the late spring and early summer on a terminal, erect, 6.4" to 12.8" [16 to 32 cm] long, lax, or densely [30 to 120] flowered, racemose inflorescence that has leaf-like bracts.

Synonyms Dactylorchis durandii (Boiss. & Reut.) Verm. 1962; Dactylorchis elata (Poir.) Verm. 1947; Dactylorchis sesquipedalis (Willd.) Verm. 1947; Dactylorhiza durandii (Boiss. & Reut.) Aver 1984; Dactylorhiza durandii (Boissier & Reuter) M. Lainz. 1971; Dactylorhiza elata f. leucantha (Maire & Weiller) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata f. pallida (Maire & Weiller) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata f. peltieri (Soó) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata f. speciosissima (Soó) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata subsp. durandii (Boiss. & Reut.) Molero Mesa & Pérez Raya 1987; Dactylorhiza elata subvar. maroccanica (Soó) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata subvar. speciosissima (Soó) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata subvar. stephensonii (Maire & Weiller) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata var. durandii (Boiss. & Reut.) Landwehr 1977; Dactylorhiza elata var. elongata (Maire) Raynaud 1985; ; Dactylorchis munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) Verm. 1947; Dactylorhiza elata subsp. durandii (Boissier & Reuter) Soó ?; Dactylorhiza elata subsp. munbyana (Boissier & Reuter) Soó ?; Dactylorhiza elata subvar. munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) Raynaud 1985; Dactylorhiza elata var. munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) Soó 1962; Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. africana (Klinge) H.Sund. 1980; Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. elata (Poir.) H.Sund. 1975; Dactylorhiza munbyana (Boissier & Reuter) Holub 1984; Dactylorhiza vestita (Cav. ex Lag. & Rodr.) Aver. 1986; × Orchidactyla kabyliensis (G.Keller) Aver. 1986; Orchis africana Klinge 1898; Orchis durandii Boissier & Reuter 1852; *Orchis elata Poiret 1833; Orchis elata f. elongata (Maire) Soó 1933; Orchis elata f. leucantha Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis elata f. mairei Soó 1933; Orchis elata f. pallida Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis elata f. peltieri Soó 1933; Orchis elata f. speciosissima Soó 1933; Orchis elata subsp. durandii (Boiss. & Reut.) Soó 1927; Orchis elata subsp. munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) E.G.Camus 1928; Orchis elata subvar. durandiana Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis elata subvar. stephensonii Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis elata var. algerica (Rchb.) Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis elata var. elongata Maire 1931; Orchis elata var. munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) Soó 1933; Orchis elata var. poiretiana Maire & Weiller 1959; Orchis incarnata var. algerica Desf. 1799; Orchis incarnata var. algerica Rchb. 1851; Orchis incarnata var. xauensis Pau & Font Quer 1929; Orchis kabyliensis G.Keller 1933; Orchis kabyliensis var. rassautae Alleiz. in ?; Orchis latifolia var. elatior Batt. & Trab. 1884; Orchis latifolia var. munbyana (Boiss. & Reut.) Batt. 1884; Orchis munbyana Boissier & Reuter 1852; Orchis orientalis subsp. africana Klinge 1898; Orchis rassautae (Alleiz.) Alleiz. 1962; Orchis vestita Cav. ex Lag. & Rodr. 1803

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East Delforge 2005

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