Orchis olbiensis Reut. ex Gren.

This is a geophyte, which at flowering time has two tubers. The plant is relatively short at only l 0 to 25 cm. The rosette at the base of the stalk consists of 4 to 8 bright green, shiny, lanceolate and acuminate leaves that can be mottled or unmottled, with two further vaginating leaves on the stalk.
The cylindrical flower spike is short at between 5 and 10 cm tall, seldom up to 15 cm. It consists of up to 25 single flowers, but there are normally less. They grow from the angle of membranous bracts, which are slightly shorter than the ovary. The single blossoms seem relatively large, due to their erect, matched sepals that bend backwards; these are 8 to 12 mm long, 4 to 6 mm wide and oval with blunt tips. Both matched petals that are between 6 and 8mm long and 4 to 5mm wide incline with the central sepal to form a helmet.
The lip is divided into three parts with a protruding central lobe, which is slightly brighter and exhibits various numbers of dark red spots or line drawings; the side lobes bend back. The lip, which carries a long, upward pointing spur, that is often slightly crooked at the tip, has a length of at most 20 mm (a differentiation character to Orchis laeta!), this can be slightly longer but is mainly shorter than the ovary.
Orchis olbiensis shows a remarkable colour variation, from very bright to rather dark tones. In the bright specimens, the basic flower colour varies between almost white and pale pink with a strong contrast to the dark red spots. In some populations of the Iberian Peninsula, almost half the population belongs to this variation, while in the east of southern France, it is almost completely missing; this may well be the reason that the bright colour variation is not mentioned in the protologue. The dark variation corresponds to the original description, in that the basic flower colour varies between light red or light violet to red-violet. At least, the bright centre of the lip and often the whole lip, clearly contrasts to the darker colour of sepals and matched petals; this darker variation seems to dominate in North Africa, too.

The species is not especially common, and due to its special biotope demands, only locally endangered.

Flowering time lasts, according altitude and the weather, from the beginning of March to the beginning of May. The spur produces no nectar, nevertheless, insects, mainly various hymenoptera visit them and a low percentage of flowers setting seed indicates the allogamous nature of this species. The occurrence of hybrids with Orchis mascula, Orchis pauciflora, Orchis provincialis and possibly with Orchis laeta confirms this allogamy.

This species is distributed along the coasts of the western Mediterranean. The whole area splits into several parts that are substantially separated from each other. A genetic exchange between these areas may only occasionally occur.

The species settles in bright macchia, garrigues and sparse grasses on dry, stony grounds and rocky areas. Alkaline reactive soils are preferred, but not settled exclusively. It can be found in the mountains at heights of up to 1,800 m.