Common spotted orchid

The Common Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) is a
commonly occurring species

Species

In biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....

 of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...

an orchid. It is widely variable in colour and height, ranging from 15 to 60 cm in height. The flower colour can vary from white to pale purple with purple spots. The lip has three lobes. Some colonies are highly perfumed, attractive to day-flying moths.

• Flowers: June-August.
• Leaves: narrow lanceolate, keeled, often dark-spotted.
• Distribution: ubiquitous from alkaline marshes to chalk downland. The most common orchid in Britain. After the Bee Orchid, the most successful coloniser of waste land.

Subspecies

• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. carpatica (Batoušek & Kreutz) Kreutz (Slovakia
  Slovakia
  The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
  
  )
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. fuchsii (Europe to Siberia and Mongolia)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. hebridensis (Wilmott) Soó (Great Britain, Ireland)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. okellyi (Druce) Soó (Great Britain, Ireland)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. psychrophila (Schltr.) Holub (Europe to Siberia)
• Dactylorhiza fuchsii subsp. sooiana (Borsos) Borsos (Slovakia, Hungary)

Source

• World Checklist of Monocotyledons, Kew Botanical Gardens