Dactylorhiza incarnata
species of plant
Dactylorhiza incarnata, the early marsh-orchid, is a perennial, temperate-climate species of orchid generally found growing in wet meadows, and generally on base-rich soils, up to about 2100m asl. The species occurs widely in Europe and Asia from Portugal and Ireland east to Siberia and Xinjiang.
There are several subspecies and also hybrids, rendering the identification of this species more difficult, but typically, the flowering spike is robust with a hollow stem, 25–60 cm (9.8–24 in) tall, and bearing up to 50 flowers. Plants grow to a height of from 15 to 70 cm (5.9 to 28 in). The 4–7 erect yellowish-green leaves are hooded at the tip. The inflorescence is 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) long, with up to 50 blooms. The labellum appears long and narrow, since its sides are strongly reflexed (folded back). The tip is shallowly three-lobed. The flower is often flesh-coloured (the meaning of incarnata) and the labellum normally has loop-shaped markings.
The flowering period is from May to mid-July, dependent on latitude and subspecies.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Dactylorhiza incarnata” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Dactylorhiza, incarnata and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q854799. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dactylorhiza incarnata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.