Similar to The Burren there are also some continental locations where Dactylorhiza fuchsii tends to develop white or at least bright flowers. In the Belgian province of Liège, near Lanaye, there are dozens of albiflora forms of this species, as Jeroen Gerdes told me – he sent me the photo at the left.
Today I visited a meadow near Biebergemuend in the Hesse part of the mountain range called Spessart. On a space of about 5,000 square meters I counted about 300 Dactylorhiza fuchsii with the following distribution of flower colours (in per cent):
| Dactylorhiza fuchsii with | % |
|---|---|
| dark pink flowers | 2 |
| medium pink flowers | 6 |
| bright pink flowers | 45 |
| white flowers and labellum marking | 44 |
| white flowers without marking | 3 |
| total | 100 |
In total 10 of about 300 Dactylorhiza fuchsii are albiflora forms – such a frequency is quite higher than usually observed with this or other orchids species and leads to the assumption that there might be some gradual or saltational evolution under way.
Among the other plants in this area I noted Dactylorhiza majalis (withered), Dactylorhiza fuchsii x majalis, Platanthera bifolia, Neottia ovata, Rhinanthus minor, Cirsium arvense, Campanula persicifolia, Picris hieracioides and Arnica montana. Dactylorhiza majalis grows in the neighbourhood of wet ditches along the meadow – and there are also hybrids of D. majalis and D. fuchsii – still flowering while D. majalis is already withered. The hybrids are rather strong, some of them with a height of up to 50 cm. They can easily be determined by their broad leaves and the rounded labellum of the flowers with a reduced medium lobe. There is also an albiflora form of Dactylorhiza fuchsii x majalis (right).