Herminium monorchis (L.) R. Br.

Plants slender, 8-20(-25) cm tall. Tuberoid of flowering plant globose, sessile, the 2-3 new ones long-stalked. Stem stiff with 2-3(-4) oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate leaves in lower part and 2-3 bract-like above. Inflorescence 1-10 cm long, 1-10 cm broad, usually dense, sometimes lax. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate, ± equalling the ovary in length. Flowers small, drooping, yellowish-green, sweet-scented, the lower often distant. Sepals connivent, the dorsal ovate-oblong, 2.2-3 x 1.6-1.8 mm; laterals narrower, 2.5-3.2 x 1-1.2 mm. Petals longer, from broadened base suddenly narrowed, 3.5 mm long. Labellum ± as long as petals, 3.2-4 mm long, 3-lobed near concave base; side lobes short, c.0.6 mm, divergent; mid-lobe narrowly-ligulate, 1.8-2 mm long. Column short, broad. Ovary sessile, slightly twisted, bent downwards at apex.

Distribution: Europe, Himalayan-mountains, Tibet, China, Japan. Euro-Sibirian element. In wet meadows up to 4300 m.

Fl. Per.: July-August.

Flowering from July to August.

Herminium monorchis is occurring in Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, N and NW Yunnan of China, India, Sikkim, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia; C and W Asia, Europe.

Plants 10-35 cm tall. Tubers globose to ellipsoid, 6-10 mm long, 5-10 mm wide. Stem with 1 or 2 tubular sheaths at base, 2-leaved. Leaves basal and subopposite to cauline, widely spaced and alternate, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 1.5-10 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, apex acute. Inflorescence 5-20 cm long; peduncle cylindric, with 1 or 2 ovate-lanceolate sterile bracts 0.5-5.5 cm long, lower one occasionally foliaceous; rachis 2-11 cm long, densely or occasionally laxly many flowered; floral bracts linear-lanceolate, 2-3 mm long, shorter than ovary, apex acuminate-cuspidate. Flowers fragrant, nodding, yellowish green; ovary distinctly hooked toward apex, 3-5 mm long including pedicel. Dorsal sepal suberect, oblong-ovate, ca. 2 mm long, 1.3 mm wide, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lateral sepals weakly spreading, oblong-ovate, apex subacute. Petals forming a hood, rhombic, somewhat fleshy, 1-veined, sometimes obscurely 3-lobed near middle, apex acute; lip spreading to decurved, oblong-obovate, 2-5 mm long, 1.3-1.8 mm wide, slightly fleshy, base attenuate and shallowly concave, furcately 3-lobed near middle; lateral lobes linear-triangular, 1-1.5 mm long, apex acute; mid-lobe linear-triangular, 1.6-3 mm wide, apex acute. pollinia subglobose; viscidia large, involute, hornlike.

The chromosomal number of Herminium monorchis is 2n = 40 (Lövkvist and Hultgård, 1999).

Growing in broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, thickets, grasslands, grassy swamps; 1000-4000 m.

Herminium monorchis, the musk orchid, is a commonly occurring species of orchid. It is widespread across much of Europe and northern Asia from France to Japan, including China, Siberia, Mongolia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, etc.

It has a localised distribution in Britain; sites where it is found include Ham Hill in Wiltshire and Noar Hill in Hampshire.