The Trouble with Orchids

One of the two entrances to Dunrobin Woods nearest to us is directly off the busy A9 and takes us into a small, overgrown clearing where, in past years, we've found....

....two or three of the fairly standard northern marsh orchids, Dactylorhiza purpurella. However, when we passed through the clearing this morning we counted upward of a dozen orchids, some....

....coloured rather differently from the standard northern marsh. A bit of research on the internet suggests that this paler version is Dactylorhiza purpurella var. albiflora which has what are described as 'white' flowers and is confined to parts of Scotland.

This one, however, is markedly different. It's most likely to be a cross between a 'white', albiflora northern marsh orchid and a close relative in the dactylorhiza group, possibly the common spotted orchid.

The northern marsh is capable of several hybrids, not all of them in its group, and this hybridisation is common in other orchids, which makes identification for people like me both difficult and frustrating. However, thinking about it, I would rather have this rich variety and the frustration which goes with it than just a few, easily recognised, un-hybridisable species.