This is one of western Europe's commonest Orchis and can be found in a variety of habitats over a
widespread range that takes it as far west as the Canary Islands and from north Africa in the south
right up to the Arctic Circle. O. mascula reaches Italy in the east but beyond this it is largely
replaced by both O. pinetorum and O. ovalis.
It was first described from Sweden in 1755 and its name mascula refers to the "masculine"
appearance of the underground tuber's. This is a familiar orchid in Britain, where its common name
is the Early Purple Orchid and which is an appropriate name for the earliest flowering of our native
species.
The appearance of the orchid is quite variable with much depending on the type of habitat its found growing in. On calcerious soils it tends to be a smaller plant with a dense inflorescence and large
individual flowers. On clay and particularly in woodland, it can become a huge plant of to 60cms with
a loose flower head of up to 50 flowers. Although O. mascula most usually bears heavily dark spotted leaves, this is by no means a consistent feature and it would seem that this marking becomes less marked
the further south one travels. Illustration 6 is an example from Dorset (UK) whereas the unspotted
examples in 3 and 9 come from southern France. It can grow at up to 3000m in the south of its range.
O. mascula is not easily confused with other orchis, except possibly in the east of its range where it comes into contact with O. pinetorum and O. ovalis where there is undoubtedly some intergradation..
The illustrations are from the Vercors, Causse and southern England, dating from late April.
