Early-purple Orchid - Orchis mascula
Grows to 60 cm and has 3 to 5 narrow-oblong basal leaves, often with purple blotches. The stem is often purplish with several sheathing leaves in the lower half. Flowers purple with an unpleasant smell, the lateral sepals spreading upwards like wings, the upper sepal and petals forming a hood.
Deciduous woodland, Dunes etc.
April to June.
Perennial.
Widespread throughout most of Britain, and can be locally frequent.
Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 30 of the 617 tetrads.
Peter Smith
Launde Park Wood
19 May 2013
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
04 May 2015
Graham Calow
Narborough Bog
27 April 2017
steven lewis
clipsham park wood
12 May 2017
Adrian Baker
Elmesthorpe Plantation
14 April 2017
Peter Smith
Cloud Wood
20 May 2012
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
04 May 2015
David Gould
Narborough Bog, Leics
09 May 2016
AJ Cann
Cloud Wood
31 May 2015
AJ Cann
Launde Park Wood
15 April 2017
Graham Calow
Elmesthorpe Plantation, Burbage
24 May 2018
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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MAP KEY:
Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015
UK Map
Species profile
- Common names
- Early-purple Orchid
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Asparagales
- Family:
- Orchidaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 52
- First record:
- 20/05/2012 (Smith, Peter)
- Last record:
- 13/06/2023 (Biddle, Linda)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
Latest images
Latest records
Steve Mathers
Narborough Bog
04 May 2017
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
04 May 2015
AJ Cann
Cloud Wood
19 April 2015
David Nicholls
Cloud Wood
04 May 2015
Peter Smith
Cloud Wood
20 May 2012
AJ Cann
Priors Coppice
15 May 2016
Bill Piper
Cloud Wood
22 April 2016
Adrian Baker
Elmesthorpe Plantation
16 May 2016
Graham Calow
Narborough Bog
27 April 2017
AJ Cann
Launde Park Wood
15 April 2017
AJ Cann
Launde Park Wood
15 April 2017
martindgrimes
Clipsham Park Wood
20 April 2017
David Gould
Narborough Bog, Leics
09 May 2016
toby_cg
Moor Leys Lane
10 May 2021
