''Orchis militaris'', the military orchid, is a species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

native to Europe. It is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus ''

Orchis ''Orchis'' is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), occurring mainly in Europe and Maghreb, Northwest Africa, and ranging as far as Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang. The name is from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις ''orchis'', meaning "testicl ...

''.

Description

This plant grows to a height of 20 to 50 cm with a robust stem with rather drawn up oblong basal leaves. The inflorescence forms a purplish dense cone consisting of from 10 to 40 flowers. In each flower the sepals and side petals are gathered together to form a pointed "helmet" (whence it gets its name), a lilac colour outside and a veined purple colour inside. The central tongue finishes in two lobes separated by a tooth. Depending on the location, it flowers from April to June.

Taxonomy

''Orchis militaris'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in 1753. ''Orchis militaris'' Poir.. is a synonym of ''

Orchis italica ''Orchis italica'', the naked man orchid or the Italian orchid, is a species of orchid native to the Mediterranean Basin. It gets its common name from the lobed lip (labellum) of each flower which resembles the general shape of a naked man. In ...

''. Two subspecies are recognized: *''Orchis militaris'' subsp. ''militaris'' – widespread in Eurasia, from Britain to Mongolia *''Orchis militaris'' subsp. ''stevenii'' (Rchb.f.) B.Baumann, H.Baumann, R.Lorenz & Ruedi Peter – Iran, Crimea, North Caucasus, the Transcaucasus, Turkey

Distribution and habitat

It is well distributed around Europe, reaching as far north as southern Sweden, but rather rare in the Mediterranean areas. It extends east across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. It prefers full light on a dry calcareous substrate, for example, unfertilized lawns, meadows, edges and light woods up to 2000 m in altitude. It is extremely rare in Britain and a protected species, occurring only at the Rex Graham nature reserve in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

and the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills or the Chilterns are a chalk escarpment in southern England, located to the north-west of London, covering across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; they stretch from Goring-on-Thames in the south- ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

Uses

''Orchis militaris'' contains the nutritious

polysaccharide Polysaccharides (), or polycarbohydrates, are the most abundant carbohydrates found in food. They are long-chain polymeric carbohydrates composed of monosaccharide units bound together by glycosidic linkages. This carbohydrate can react with wat ...

glucomannan Glucomannan is a water-soluble polysaccharide that is considered a dietary fiber. It is a hemicellulose component in the Cell wall#Plant cell walls, cell walls of some plant species. Glucomannan is a food additive used as an emulsifier and thick ...

, and is one of the original species of orchid whose ground-up roots are used to make the drink

salep Salep, also spelled sahlep salepi or sahlab,; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; is a flour made from the tubers of the orchid genus ''Orchis'' (including species '' Orchis mascula'' and ''Orchis militaris''). These tubers contain a nutritious, starchy polysacc ...

Chemistry

Orchinol Orchinol is a 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, a type of phenanthrenoid. It can be isolated from infected ''Orchis militaris'' and infected '' Loroglossum hircinum'' with '' Rhizoctonia repens''. This molecule has a phytoalexin effect. It reduces the grow ...

is a

phenanthrenoid Phenanthrenoids are chemical compounds formed with a phenanthrene backbone. These compounds occur naturally in plants, although they can also be synthesized. Phenanthrols Phenanthrols are any of five isomeric phenols derived from phenanthrene ( ...

that can be isolated from infected ''O. militaris''.Structure of Orchinol, Loroglossol, and Hircinol. Roy M. Letcher and Llewellyn R. M. Nhamo, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 1, 1973, pages 1263-1265,

References

External links

* *
Military orchid (''Orchis militaris'')''Orchis militaris'' distribution
{{Taxonbar, from=Q162755 militaris Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Orchids of Europe Flora of Great Britain