Orchids of the UK - Lizard Orchid
Orchids of the UK
Lizard Orchid Himantoglossum hircinum
Rob Read
Above:The tall and impressive Lizard Orchid on a links golf course in Kent. ©Rob Read
Above: The Lizard Orchid is an extraordinary plant. ©Rob Read
The Lizard Orchid is an impressive plant that can grow as tall as a metre in height. It gets its name from its long petals which are said to resemble the head, legs, and tail of a lizard. They are greenish in colour, with pale pink spots and stripes, and they smell strongly of goats, from which part of its scientific name is derived – Hircinum being Latin for ‘goat-like’. The basal leaves are oval and soon wither. This is an orchid that is very easy to identify and you can’t really confuse with any other species. When you see that imposing flower spike and the long, curly petals which form the flower, then you know you are looking at a Lizard Orchid.
Although it is a rare flower with a very localised distribution in the UK (only found in the south east), it is commonly abundant where it occurs. Outside of the UK it is distributed across Europe, from Spain eastwards to the Balkans and also in north west Africa. In the UK it flowers from May through to July favouring calcareous soils, such as sunny chalk grasslands, sand dunes, sunny woodland edges, roadsides and quarries.
It is an extraordinary orchid and I went to see it a few years ago in the Sandwich Bay area of Kent, an area that supports the largest population in the UK among its sand dunes and golf links. I photographed it on a golf course and remember being wary of wayward golf balls heading for the rough! A little research on the internet will reveal a few reliable sites – if you go to the right place at the right time of the year then it really isn’t difficult to find and is well worth the trouble.
Rob Read. September 2021.
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