On Jul 10, 8:33*pm, Kay wrote:
However, I'm not convinced that it is pure D. fuchsii
either even though it is possibly the most variable of the
Dactylorhizas. *Fuchsii is very promiscuous, capable of growing in a
wide range of habitats and soils. *Where it meets other related
species, it hybridises readily and this looks more like a hybrid to
me.

Please, Dave, why does it look more like a hybrid? I'm still trying to
get to grips with Dactylorhiza

Yes it's a confusing genus made worse by the variability of the
commonest species and their willingness to interbreed even with other
genera. I was a bit surprised to see that Richard Bateman included
the frog orchid (Coeloglossum) in Dactylorhiza, but in view of its
undoubtedly close genetic affinity (as evidenced by frequent hybrids
between them, plus their structural similarities) it does make sense.
Now, down to this little teaser:

Firstly, even taking into account a possible, slight distortion of the
image, which may or may not have taken place in downloading to
photobucket, I'm struck by the way the entire flower is somewhat
narrowed. The lateral sepals are sub-erect and comparatively narrow,
rather than spreading as is the norm with most fuchsii. However, it
is the labellum (lip) and its markings that really set it apart. Even
allowing for variability, the lateral lobes of fuchsii are generally
broad and rhomboidal while the middle lobe is longer and triangular.
Markings tend to appear as a series of dots and lines more or less
across the lip, usually within a double loop that may or may not be
broken.

In the op's pic as mentioned before, the lateral sepals are slightly
twisted, unusually erect and in this it shares some similarity with
the Marsh orchids; D. incarnata, praetermissa, purpurella and
traunsteineri etc. However, the markings and structure of the lip
plus the slender, slightly upward-curving spur (short, fat and conical
in the Marsh orchids) take it far from those species and put it closer
to fuchsii. Then there is the dorsal sepal, which in fuchsii forms a
hood with the lateral petals over the pollinia (pollen sacs). In the
op's pic it is quite erect with only the dorsal sepals forming the
hood.

With the lip we see only narrowly rhomboidal lateral lobes that are
almost as long as the distinctive, central lobe. The lobes are very
deeply cleft to half the length of the lip, giving a very open
appearance to the flower. I've also noticed that immediately below
the pollinia in the centre of the flower, there appears to be a pair
of imperfectly formed lobes that partly obscure the mouth of the
spur. Finally, there's no hint of the usual fuchsii double loop
(broken or entire) on the lip and most noticeable is the way in which
the few markings that exist are concentrated on the central lobe.

So having almost established that it isn't some aberrant form of D.
fuchsii, it bears no significant similarity to any of the other native
Dactylorhizas. Therefore, it is most likely to be a hybrid. Quite a
few, intra-generic hybrids naturally occurring in the UK are already
documented and this plant doesn't really compare with any of those
that I've either seen so far or researched. So, I'm sorely tempted to
think that it may be an intergeneric (bigeneric) hybrid and my gut
instincts push me in the direction of the Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis
pyramidalis) as the pollen parent onto D. fuchsii. Such a pairing
might explain the more erect dorsal sepal, the deeply cleft, near
evenly sized lobes on the lip, the relative absence of markings and
the rather untidy sub lateral lobes at the mouth to the spur.

I've done a picture comparison with typical D. fuchsii and A.
pyramidalis so you can see where I'm aiming:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...g?t=1247296343