Dactylorhiza majalis
Ecology
A tuberous perennial herb of damp, calcareous soils, growing in fens, marshes, wet meadows and dune-slacks. Lowland.
Status
Trends
This species has been much better recorded since the 1962 Atlas, particularly in Ireland. Its overall distribution is stable, but its taxonomy is not. Stace (1997) assigned plants in Ireland and North Uist to subsp. occidentalis and all others to subsp. cambrensis; recent work indicates that this last is better treated as a subspecies of D. purpurella, that subsp. occidentalis should be raised to specific rank, and that the North Uist plants are probably referable to D. traunsteineri (R. M. Bateman, in litt.).
World Distribution
European Temperate element.
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Broad Habitats
Light (Ellenberg): 7
Moisture (Ellenberg): 7
Reaction (Ellenberg): 5
Nitrogen (Ellenberg): 3
Salt Tolerance (Ellenberg): 0
January Mean Temperature (Celsius): 4.7
July Mean Temperature (Celsius): 14.4
Annual Precipitation (mm): 1237
Height (cm): 30
Perennation - primary
Life Form - primary
Woodiness
Clonality - primary
Count of 10km squares in Great Britain: 26
Count of 10km squares in Ireland: 159
Count of 10km squares in the Channel Isles: 0
Atlas Change Index: -0.41
JNCC Designations
Atlas text references
Atlas (342a)
.
1993. Wild orchids of Scotland.
Bateman & Denholm (1983a)
.
1986. Dactylorhiza majalis (Reichb.) P. F. Hunt & Summerhayes subsp. cambrensis (R. H. Roberts) R. H. Roberts in S. E. Yorkshire. Watsonia. 16:78-80.
.
1986. Atlas of north European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. 3 vols.
.
1996. Flora of Great Britain and Ireland, 5. Butomaceae-Orchidaceae.