Serapias orientalis
Serapias orientalis
Ssp levantina : Kızıldilli; Ssp orientalis : Dillikulak
Sturdy plant, 15-30 cm tall. Stem stout, light green, reddish in region of inflorescence. Leaves lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, forming a rosette at base. green. obliquely erect to spreading; upper leaves sheathing. exceeding base of inflorescence, red-violet to brownish-red. Spike short, elongate or ovate. compact, few to many flowered. up to 10 cm long with 3-8 ± dense flowers. Flowers reddish-brown to dark violet-red. Bracts lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, shorter than flowers, manyveined. reddish-brown. lower bracts usually exceeding flowers. Perianth segments lanceolate, pointed, veined, connivent to form a hood, pale violet outside with dark red-violet veins, arranged horizontally or vertically to obliquely upwards. Labellum 28-33 x 20-25 mm, two-lobed with two ridges at base whose margins diverge downwards. Hypochile 10-18 x 18-26 mm, clearly projecting from sepal hood, dark red-brown, dark violet at margins. Epichile 16-30 x 10-18 mm, broadly lanceolate to ovate, bent back. dark violet-red, centre with pale-coloured hairs. Fl. 3-4. Macchie, phrygnna. poor chalk grassland and rocky pastures, rarely found in damp meadows and open pinewoods; on basic or calcareous soils, s.l.-400 m.
Greece. E. Medit, element.
