This is one of the commoner members of a relatively small genera whose name refers to the ploughshare
shape of its lip. S. vomeracea was first described from Verona (Italy) in 1770 thus making it the second
of the Serapias genera to be formally identified - S. cordigera being the first. S. vomeracea is easily
the largest of the genera and on occasion can reach a height of 60cms with up to 12 individual flowers arranged in a lax inflorescence. Colour varies from a yellow/orange to deep mahogany red.
It has a wide distribution ranging from the lower Alps in Switzerland to Cyprus in the east. S. vomeracea
can be abundant but perhaps occurs in lesser concentrations than its close relative S. bergonii which
can form enormous drifts in its favoured locations. There is a substantial overlap of range between these
two species and positive differentiation can be difficult (if not completely impossible) where the two occur
in close proximity.
If we concentrate on the more typical examples of each species, identification is reasonably easy :-
S. vomeracea is a larger flowered and more robust plant than S. bergonii and importantly the bract
is significantly longer than the hood. It is this latter feature which gives the species a distinctive appearance where, (especially in younger plants ) the upward thrusting bract formation recall Matthew
Arnold's dreaming spire's of Oxford. Unfortunately it's rarely this straightforward and interbreeding
with S. bergonii and indeed other Serapias species has in many places produced hybrid swarms of indeterminite parentage. An eminent orchid expert specialising in the flora of Crete declared that in his
view there were no pure S. vomeracea populations on the island and it's probable that this situation is not
applicable only to Crete.
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