Syn.: Dactylorhiza latifolia (L.) Soó, Orchis sambucina L.
Family: Orchidaceae Juss.
Distribution: European species, occurs scattered from Scandinavia to Mediterranean, rarely in the West, in the South only in mountain areas, eastward to the river Dnepr and Caucasus.
Ecology: It grows in mountain meadows, pastures, forest margins, from foothills to mountains. Blooms from May to June.
Description: A perennial herb with an erect stem, 10–25 cm tall. The leaves (4–7) are lanceolate, up to 12 cm long, unspotted, bracts as long as flowers. The flowers are yellow or red, sometimes white. The fruit is a capsule.
Threat and protection: The Elder-flowered Orchid is an endangered and strictly protected plant in Czechia and Slovakia. The species is simultaneously protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
These images were taken in Czechia, Moravia, Bílé Karpaty, Porážky and Březová (by Ladislav Hoskovec, May 24, 2003 and May 1, 2004), and Nový Hrozenkov (by Zdeněk Podešva, May 2014).
