It flowers from late April to June in the British Isles, and as early as February in other countries, such as France. The inflorescence is of various colours, mainly purple but ranging from white, through pink, to deep purple. From 5 to 25 helmet-shaped flowers grow in a loose, linear bunch at the top of the single stalk. A pair of lateralsepals with prominent green, occasionally purple veins extend laterally like "wings", giving the orchid its name. The broad, three lobed, lower petal is pale in the center with dark spots. Leaves are lanceolate, or sometimes ovate, and grow in a rosette around the base of the plan, with some thinner leaves clasping the stem and sheathing almost up to the flowers. Leaves are green and unspotted. Plants grow to 40 cm in height. It is similar in appearance to the early purple orchidOrchis mascula, which flowers around the same time of year, but Anacamptis morio has green stripes on the two lateral sepals, and lacks the spots or blotches of the Early Purple's leaves. Individual plants may flower for up to 17 years.
Taxonomy
The species was first described, as Orchis morio, by Carl Linnaeus, in 1753. It was transferred to the genus Anacamptis in 1997. Anacamptis comes from the Greek ανακάμτειν "anakamptein" which means to bend, although according to different sources it may mean to bend backward, to bend down or to bend forward. The name morio is Latin for "clown", which its striped and spotted flowers were held to resemble.
It is a native of western Eurasia, ranging from Europe to Iran. In the British Isles it is found in central-southern England, Wales and Ireland. It grows in unimproved grassy meadows, especially on limestone-rich soil. This species thrives where grass is cut once or twice a year after flowering is complete, or where it is grazed after flowering is complete. Cutting or mowing should not take place immediately after flowering but give time for seed dispersal. It can grow in dry or wet grazed meadows. It can also be found in coastal grasslands, quarries, churchyards, as well as on roadsides and lawns. On the European continent it is also found in alpine pasture and in xerothermic grassland on porphyry outcrops. The maximum altitude for this species is somewhere between 1500 and 2000m.
Ecology
Pollination is by bees. The flowers do not produce nectar, but can attract pollinators with their visual appearance. This nectar deception "facilitates the mixing of pollen between different individual plants, promotes genetic diversity in the species, and has been favored evolutionarily over nectar production." Plants cannot establish without a mycorrhizal partner. This makes them vulnerable to chemicals, particularly fungicides, but also other chemical applications, including fertilisers, which could reduce the prevalence of particular species of fungi. Mycorrhizal fungi known to grow in association with the green-winged orchid include Epulorhiza repens and Moniliopsis solani.
