Lizard Orchid

Name: Lizard Orchid

Scientific name: Himantoglossum hircinum

Category: Flowers

Nature Stars: 100

What are nature stars?

About: This amazing looking orchid looks just like its name - the flowers have long trailing tendrils that look like the legs and tail of a lizard! You might find it in chalky grasslands, sand dunes, quarries and hedge banks. Flowers between May and July.

How to identify: The flowers are pale and greenish with delicate pink spots and stripes. Look for the long curly frills that dangle down from the flower spike.

Where: Rare, only grows in southeast of England

Fantastic fact: The lizard orchid smells of wet goats!

Photograph credit: Bruce Shortland