Dactylorhiza maculata Heath Spotted-orchid

Heath Spotted-orchid is an attractive species of acidic, wet or damp grasslands such as rhos pasture. The pink or mauve flowers (sometimes white) have a broad, flared lip which has a small triangular or notch-like central lobe, all marked with darker lines and spots. Although widely distributed, it is a plant mostly of western Britain where it has undergone a decline in many areas as a result of habitat loss and agricultural improvements. It has a scattered distribution in West Glamorgan and it is a charcteristic species and an axiophyte in the wet acidic grasslands of the Gower Commons and marshy rhos pastures in the South Wales Coalfield. Its occurrence in such places is often a good indicator of species-rich marshy grassland.

Native