orchis spitzeli

A mostly mountain or alpine Orchis,interesting mainly for the extensive and scattered area of its natural habitat. It is relatively slender ,unobtrusive orchid with narrow elongated leaves and a rather inconspicuous inflorescence .Its flower stlak is upto 20 in/50 cm tall or smaller ;each of the 2- 7 leaves arranged in a ground rosette reach a length of 2.4 -4.8 in/6-12 cm . A raceme inflorescence is usually dense and consists of 10-30 green and purple flowers. The green tepals are decorated with brown and red spots ,while the spots on the pink to purple lip are dark purple . The species blooms between April and july,depending on the location .It inhabits light forests ,dwarf mountain pine growths and mountain meadows in the elevations between 3,300 ft/1,000 m and 6,900 ft/ 2,100 m. It is fond of damp ,alkaline soils .O.spitzelii is known to grow in the Mediterranean ,in the Alps ,the Pyrenean Penensula and Far Causia.Most of the individual locations are very distant from eachother and thus isolated .