Dactylorhiza fuchsii

The orchids that are most similar belong to the Dactylorhiza maculata group. D. maculata ssp. maculata is distinguished by having the lip less deeply trilobed, while D. maculata subsp. saccifera has one spur large and saccular (sac-shaped) and the bracts of the inflorescence as long as or longer than the flowers. Outside of the "maculata group", D. majalis is very similar to D. fuchsii, but is distinguished by the following characters: the spots of the leaves are less elongated, the bracts of the inflorescence are longer and the lower transcend the inflorescence itself; it tends to be less cylindrical (a little more 'globular'), the stem is hollow (not solid) and the leaves are slightly larger. Other similar orchids are D. incarnata and D. lapponica but these species have hollow stems and different habitat (fens and bogs).

D. fuchsii is a Eurosiberian species occurring over Europe from Ireland in the west eastwards to Mongolia, the Altai Mountains and across northern Asia.[1] It is sympatric with D. maculata.

Typical habitats are, variously across the range, conifer, beech and chestnut forests, moderately wet meadows, bogs and margins of streams. The preferred substrate is supposedly calcareous although it seems not to be particularly linked to this type of substrate. In mountain, subalpine and alpine ecosystems D. fuchsii is found from 900 to 2300 m above sea level. Elsewhere it is found from sea level.

The full list of areas (World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions) for D. fuchsii is Finland, Great Britain, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Corsica, Italy, Romania, former Yugoslavia, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, North European Russia, South European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Ukraine, Altay, Buryatiya, Chita, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Xinjiang, Mongolia.

In Italy it is found mainly in the Alps in the northern Apennines. In Britain it is widespread, the most common orchid, occurring from alkaline marshes to chalk downland. After the bee orchid, Ophrys apifera, it is the most successful orchid coloniser of waste land.

Pollination may be by bumblebees, or the longhorn beetle Alosterna tabacicolor.[7][8][9]

Dactylorhiza fuchsii forms mycorrhizal associations with fungi in the Tulasnellaceae and Ceratobasidium groups.[10]

Dactylorhiza is Ancient Greek for finger root, referring to the shape of the plant's roots. The species name fuchsii honours the 16th-century German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. The English name 'common spotted' refers to the species' abundance and the spots on its leaves. The French and German common names also honour Leonhart Fuchs.

This plant belongs to a problematic group of orchids. D. fuchsii is very variable in flower colour and flower morphology, plant height and the scent of flowers. This is due to the ease of introgression (the transfer of genetic material from one sympatric species to another, only partially isolated from the first, through interspecific hybridization and repeated backcrossing to a parental species), the ability of these plants to adapt quickly and easily to habitat and different substrates and possibly other causes. As a result, a multitude of forms have been defined for this plant. The World Checklist of Kew Gardens lists over 25 varieties, of which 7 are recognized as valid.[11]

• 
  D. fuchsii alba, White-flowered form
• 
  D. f. subsp. hebridensis
• 
  D. f. subsp. okellyi
• 
  Hybrid between D. fuchsii and Gymnadenia conopsea

• World Checklist of Monocotyledons, Kew Botanical Gardens

• Media related to Dactylorhiza fuchsii at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Dactylorhiza fuchsii at Wikispecies
• "Dactylorhiza fuchsii" at the Encyclopedia of Life
• Manfred Hennecke