Gymnadenia

Gymnadenia is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) containing 22 terrestrial species. The former genus Nigritella is now included in Gymnadenia. They can be found in damp meadows, fens and marshes, and on chalk or limestone, often in alpine regions of Europe and Asia from Portugal to Kamchatka, including China, Japan, Mongolia, Siberia, the Himalayas, Iran, Ukraine, Germany, Scandinavia, Great Britain, etc. The fragrant orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea) has been introduced into the USA and is reportedly naturalized in Connecticut. These hardy terrestrial orchids are deciduous. They survive the winter through two deep-cut tubers. Long lanceolate green leaves grow at the bottom of the stem. There are some small leaves at the stop of the stem. They flower during the summer. The inflorescence is a dense cylindrical spike between 5 and 30 cm long. It can consists of up to 150 small pleasant-smelling flowers. It is recently discovered that eugenol and isoeugenol, floral ......read more on Wikipedia.