Tetraploid marsh orchids in the British Isles


Nomenclature, in terms of either scientific or vernacular names, can be a bit of a jungle as species, subspecies, and varieties are reclassified.   Based on  Bateman & Denholm's "Taxonomic reassessment of the British and Irish tetraploid marsh-orchids" (New Journal of Botany2 (1), 37, 2012), the current 'good' tetraploid Dactylorhiza species in the British Isles are:

D. praetermissa
(Druce) Soo

Southern Marsh 
['Leopard Marsh' = var. junialis; D. incarnata ssp. cruenta (aka 'Flecked Marsh-Orchid') sometimes also goes by this name.]
D. kerryensis 
(Wilmott) Hunt & Summerhayes

Irish Marsh [=D. occidentalis (Pugsley) Delforge]
D. purpurella
(T & TA Stephenson) Soo

Northern Marsh
D. traunsteinerioides
(Pugsley) Landwehr

Pugsley's Marsh ['Narrow-leaved Marsh']
['Lapland Marsh' = ssp. francis-drucei]
['Hebridean Marsh' = ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis]
N.B. plants previously assigned to D. 'traunsteinerioides' "south of a line from the Severn to the Wash" are now considered D. praetermissa ssp. schoenophila ("Glacial progress: do we finally understand the narrow-leaved marsh-orchids?";  Bateman, New Journal of Botany 1(1), 2, 2011).

 

We also have two diploid species of Dactylorhiza (D. fuchsii, D. incarnata) and one tetraploid (D. maculata), as well as the distinct D. viridis.

Notes:

  • D. traunsteineri: 'Traunstein's narrow-leaved marsh orchid', a Continental (largely alpine) species is distinct from, and not to be confused with, Pugsley's, D. traunsteinerioides.
  • D. lapponica ['Lapland Marsh']:  now  D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-druce in British Isles
    (Scandinavian D. lapponica still good).
  • D. ebudensis ['Hebridean Marsh']:   now  D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis, by way of
    • D. majalis (Reichenbach f.) P. F. Hunt & Summerhayes ssp. scotica,
    • D. majalis ssp. occidentalis (Pugsley) Soo var. ebudensis,
    • D. majalis ssp. occidentalis var. scotica, and
    • D. majalis ssp. occidentalis var. ebudensis Wiefelspiitz ex R. M. Bateman & Denholm
    See "The 'Hebridean Marsh-orchid': nomenclatural and conceptual clarification of a biological enigma"
    R.M. Bateman & I. Denholm,  Edinb. J. Bot., 52  (1), 55, 1995.

  • D. majalis  ['Western Marsh', 'Broad-leaved Marsh']:  not found in British Isles (European D. majalis  still good).

Given the foregoing,  we can map the names used in some recent standard reference books onto current nomenclature (Cole & Waller postdates Bateman & Denholm and takes the latter's work into account):

As given in book

             Current
Allan, Woods & Clarke:  Wild orchids of Scotland  (HMSO 1994)
D. majalis ssp. scotica [Hebridean]

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis
D. purpurella
Northern

good
D. lapponica
'Lapland'

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei
D. traunsteineri   Narrow-leaved

D. traunsteinerioides




Lang:  Britain's orchids (WILDGuides, 2004)
D. praetermissa
Southern

good
D. purpurella
Northern

good
D. majalis ssp. scotica
'Western'

D. kerryensis var. occidentalis
D. majalis ssp. cambrensis
'Western'

D. purpurella var. cambrensis
D. traunsteineri  
'Narrow-leaved'

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. traunsteineri
D. lapponica
'Lapland'

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei




Foley & Clarke: Orchids of the British Isles (Griffin Press, 2005)
D. praetermissa  
Southern

good
D. traunsteinerioides
Pugsley's

good
D. ebudensis
'Hebridean'

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis
D. purpurella  
Northern

good
D. occidentalis    
Irish

D. kerryensis




Harrap & Harrap:  Orchids of Britain & Ireland (Bloomsbury 2005, 2009)
D. praetermissa   Southern
good
D. traunsteinerioides Pugsley's
good
D. ebudensis 'Hebridean'
D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis
D. purpurella Northern
good
D. occidentalis     Irish
D. kerryensis




Delforge:  Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East
(A&C Black 2006)
D. occidentalis


D. kerryensis
D. ebudensis

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis
D. lapponica

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei
(in UK;  good in Europe)
D. traunsteinerioides

good
D. kerryensis


good (D. kerryensis var. occidentalis)
D. purpurella


good
D. cambrensis


D. purpurella var. cambrensis
D. praetermissa 


good




Curtis & Thompson:  The Orchids of Ireland
(National Museums Northern Ireland, 2009)
D. majalis ssp. occidentalis
Irish

D. kerryensis
D. majalis var. brevifolia
Northern

D. purpurella
D. majalis ssp. traunsteinerioides
Narrow-leaved

D. traunsteinerioides




Sayers & Sex:  Ireland's Wild Orchids (Collins Press, 2013)
D. occidentalis
Western

D. kerryensis
D. purpurella
Northern

good
D. traunsteineri  
Narrow-leaved

D. traunsteinerioides




Harrap: A Pocket Guide to the Orchids of Britain and Ireland
(Bloomsbury, 2016)
D. praetermissa
Southern

good
D. purpurella
Northern

good
D. traunsteinerioides
Pugsley's

good
D. ebudensis
'Hebridean'

D. traunsteinerioides ssp. francis-drucei var. ebudensis
D. kerryensis
Irish

good