Hybridization amongst the militaris group of Orchis is by no means an uncommon phenomenon and
particularly with the five more common members ( O. simia, O. purpurea, O. italica, O. anthropophora
and O. militaris ) which on the continent, can often be found growing together in huge colonies and
forming intermediates of bewildering variety.
O. purpurea x O. militaris is by far the most frequently encountered of the hybrid's and may crop up
wherever the range of the two species coincide in sufficient densities. This overlap covers an enormous area from the UK in the north, down to the Mediterranean and eastwards to Russia. In the most northerly parts of their range and particularly the UK, both species are rare and this scarcity of sites ensures hybrids of the two Orchis are virtually unheard of. O. militaris and O. purpurea do not share identical habitat requirements and its therefore the case that hybrids tend to occur where the sheer numbers of plants make fraternization unavoidable. This is particularly the case in regions of southern and central France and the pictures come from Causse and Vercors.
In the more southerly area's of Greece and Italy, O. Italica largely replaces these two species and its
thought that italica is in fact a militaris that has developed in isolation to the requirements of its
more southerly geographical position. In Anatolia and Russia O. caucasica is believed to be the result
of O. purpurea x militaris hybridization where the two parents have been irretrievably subsumed into
the swarm. O. stevenii is also resident in these two countries and like O. italica, is thought to be a
geographical adaptation. Given that in Russia one can find both O. purpurea and O. militaris plus their
hybrids, the identification situation can be confusing to say the least.
