Scientific name: Ophrys insectifera L.
Common name: Fly Orchid
Description
Habit: Plant with 2 ovoid underground tubers. Stem leafy, slender, 20-40(-60)cm high.
Leaves: Several, decreasing in size up stem, oblong-lanceolate, glaucous.
Flowers: Flowers few, 3-6 in a very lax spike; the 2 petals markedly different from the 3 sepals; sepals pale green; upper petals reddish-brown with a blue patch in the centre; labellum convex, velvety, not deeply lobed or subentire or with 2 small lateral lobes, the terminal lobe large and resembling an insect's abdomen; without a spur; ovary slender, stalkless, not twisted.
Habitat: Eskers, pavement and quarries and marshes, fens and lakeshores.
Distribution: Locally common.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No
Variation: The pattern on the lip can vary.