Early Purple Orchid

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Early Purple Orchid

Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula)

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Orchidoideae
Tribe:	Orchideae
Subtribe:	Orchidinae
Genus:	Orchis
Species:	O. mascula

Binomial name

Orchis mascula
L. 1755

The Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula) is a species in the orchid genus Orchis. It grows across Mediterranean Europe and northeast Africa.

Its subspecies include:

Orchis mascula subsp. acutiflora (W.D.J.Koch) Quentin (1993)
Orchis mascula subsp. hispanica (A.Niesch. & C.Niesch.) Soó (1972) (Southern Pyrenees, Spain, Portugal, Morocco)
Orchis mascula subsp. longibracteatoides Balayer (1986) (Eastern Pyrenees)
Orchis mascula subsp. longicalcarata Akhalkatski, H. Baumann, R. Lorenz, Mosulishvili &R. Peter (2005) (Eastern and central Caucasus)
Orchis mascula subsp. maghrebiana B. Baumann & H. Baumann (2005)(Morocco)
Orchis mascula subsp. mascula (N. & C. Europe to Iran, Canary Islands)
Orchis mascula subsp. pinetorum (Boiss. & Kotschy) E.G.Camus (1908) (Macedonia to Iran)
Orchis mascula subsp. speciosa (Mutel) Hegi (1909) (Europe)
Orchis mascula subsp. wanjkovii (E.Wulff) Soó in G.Keller & al. (1932) (Crimea)

It is referred to as "long purple" by Gertrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Gertrude: "Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepards give a grosser name,"

A flour made of the ground tubers is called salep or sachlav. In some magical traditions, its root is called Adam and Eve Root and is used in spellwork.^[1]