UK Orchid

There is an undeniable glamour and fascination about orchids. In Britain, where the orchid season is in full swing they are more restrained, in their colours. Usually made up of elegant spikes in various pastel shades, from pale lilac, through to purple. 

We have about 50 wild orchid species in Britain, which is handy as that is a challenging but attainable number if you wanted to spot them all in a single summer.

Here is the fruiting head of the Lords and Ladies orchid.

In practice, you won't quite see them all, because at least three of our orchid species are very very rare. Headed by the legendary ghost orchid, which seemingly disappears for years at a time. It recently resurfaced on the Welsh borders in September 2009, for the first time since 1986.