Photographs: Co. Cork and Co. Limerick

Common Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza fuchsii Nuacht bhallach Family: Orchidaceae Flowering time: May-August. Tuberous perennial. Native. Pale-pink (occasionally white) flowers with purple markings, the deeply 3-lobed lip with pointed lobes, mid-lobe longest. Flower spike is conical becoming cylindrical. Basal leaves broadly elliptical, blunt, usually with purple spots but sometimes un-spotted. Solid stems. Variable. 15-40cm. O'Kelly's Spotted-orchid has pure white flowers, un-spotted leaves Neutral or calcareous soils. Woods, roadsides, grassland, marshes, dune-slacks, and heaths. Also colonises embankments, waste ground, quarries Similar: Heath Spotted-orchid, D. maculata

Common Spotted-orchid, Dactylorhiza fuchsii, Nuacht bhallach

Identification between Common Spotted-orchids, D. fuchsii and Heath Spotted-orchids, D. maculata can be difficult. D. fuchsii is normally found on calcareous or neutral soils, D. maculata on acidic ground.
"There is evidence suggesting that Spotted-orchids on intermediate soils tend to be intermediate in appearance."
Ref. 'Orchids of Britain and Ireland' by Anne and Simon Harrap