Irish Lady's-tresses

Irish Lady's-tresses
© R. Gulliver

This beautiful wild orchid grows in marshy grasslands in the west of Britain and Ireland, which are either grazed, flooded or cut.

The number of plants at each site can vary from one year to the next, with some plants remaining underground in some years. Its stronghold in the UK is in north-west Scotland, although it is also recorded in Devon, where it has not been seen for several years, and sites in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

It does not grow at all in the rest of Europe but is widespread in North America. It has always been rare, and is probably principally threatened by changes in grazing patterns and drainage of land.

Until recently, Irish Lady's-tresses was thought to be closely associated with lazy beds (a system of digging linear beds to grow crops in western Scotland). Plantlife has therefore commissioned a short research project to investigate how land where this orchid grows today was managed in the past.

If you have any queries please contact us at enquiries@plantlife.org.uk

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