Orchis simila

It is immediately obvious at first glance where this orchid got its name from -a detailed analysis of the flower reveals a comical -looking elongated lip shaped like the body of a little monkey .

A specimen in bloom is 12-16 in/30-40 cm tall and bears broad glossy bluish leaves : the axil of the upper most leaf gives rise to a dense spike consisting of dozens of flowers. An interesting feature of the inflorescence is that it does not start blooming from the bottom flower to the top ones ,but in the opposite direction .O.simia blooms between the begining of May and June and is known to grow very rarely in calcic and loess soils all over the Mediterreanean ,in Caucasia and in the Iraqi part of kurdistan ,to name a few areas . Interestingly ,it also rarely grows in the warmest enclaves of countries relatively far north influenced by oceanic climate ,such as Holand ,Germany and even England .