Madeiran orchid
Dactylorhiza foliosa
Family · Orchidaceae · Harmless
The only orchid endemic to Madeira and one of Europe's showiest: a dense spike of intense purple-pink flowers on damp banks and mountain levada edges.
Uplands · Streams and ditches · Oak woods
Also known asMadeira marsh orchid
How to tell it
A sturdy plant thirty to seventy centimetres, very leafy up near the spike, which gives the scientific name. Broad, bright green, glossy leaves without spots. A dense cylindrical spike with twenty to sixty deep purple-pink flowers, each with a broad lip marked with darker lines. Range: endemic to Madeira.
What it is confused with
Heath spotted orchid
Dactylorhiza maculata
They are in the same genus. The spotted one has dark-blotched leaves and pale pink or nearly white flowers; the Madeiran has clean green leaves and intense purple flowers. And they do not overlap: one is mainland, the other island.
Open sheet →What it is for
None. Like all orchids it depends on soil fungi and does not survive transplanting. It is among the most photographed plants on levada trails in May, and that is how it should stay.
The law says
Protected by CITES and Madeiran law, like all wild orchids. Photograph it, do not pick it.