Fen Orchid, Losel's Twayblade (Bruce Peninsula Orchids)

Fen Orchid, Losel's Twayblade

Liparis loeselii

Summary ⁴

Liparis loeselii, common names fen orchid, yellow widelip orchid, or bog twayblade, is a species of orchid. It is native to Europe, northern Asia, the eastern United States and eastern Canada. It grows in fens, bogs and dune slacks. It is a yellow flowering plant with glossy yellow-green leaves.

Biology ⁵

Fen orchid flowers throughout the months of June and July, and the fen variety is believed to prefer areas where peat cutting is taking place. The orchid colonises the bare fen surface as an 'early successional' species, taking advantage of a new habitat. Where it occurs on its Broadland site, it can appear quite numerous, and 242 plants were found in 1996.

Description ⁶

This rare orchid appears initially as a green scaly-looking bulb amongst the wet moss of a fen or a dune slack. There are two closely related varieties of this plant, although some authorities seem to be questioning this. They both usually have two leaves on opposite sides of the stem, emerging from the base. The East Anglian subspecies has leaves that are spear-shaped, pointed at the ends and rather shiny and greasy-looking. The Welsh variety (var. ovata) has blunter, more elliptical leaves and is a shorter plant generally. The flowers are grouped rather loosely at the top of the stem and are a yellow-green in colour. The flower 'spike' makes up the top 2-10 cm of the height of the plant. The Welsh variety usually has a shorter flower spike. The specific name loeselii commemorates Johann Loesel, a seventeenth century Prussian botanist.

Sources and Credits

(c) NC Orchid, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.flickr.com/photos/56868999@N00/852657007
(c) Pat Deacon, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Pat Deacon
(c) Norma Malinowski, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Norma Malinowski
Adapted by bpff from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liparis_loeselii
(c) Wildscreen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/6689719
(c) Wildscreen, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/6689716