[Umbrian]

 :)Success! can hardly believe it! Here is another, hopefully better picture, showing more detail.

[oron peri]

Yes it is!
Only that it's actual name is Anacamptis morio

[oron peri]

Although habitat is not typical i would say Anacamptis laxiflora.

[Alisdair]

Very interesting if it is Anacamptis palustris as Oron originally suggested (certainly looks like it), as on Corfu it's said to occur only in boggy areas around Lake Korission.

[HansA]

Do not agree with you, Oron, in my opinion it seems to be Anacamptis laxiflora.

[John J]

I'm no expert on orchids but I'd have gone with Anacamptis palustris also but for the habitat. Here in Cyprus they have become very rare as they grow in water-filled ditches and they too are on the verge of extinction. It is reported that when they flower in dry conditions they are often stunted and short-lived. A. laxiflora also grows here but again in boggy ground.

[Umbrian]

Thanks Oron, orchid names are a bit of a minefield for me! All the wild ones are beginning to appear around us now so I must try to get some good photos and get them sorted once and for all.

[Cali]

A month later, at a distance of about 50 metres, in an area quite densely shaded by pines, cypresses and oaks, I found another very tall (over 60 cm) orchid like flower. Once again it is an isolated example, that has not, to my knowledge, been here before. Help!

[Alisdair]

I think I'd go for a nicely coloured form of the very variable Epipactis helleborine, though there is at least a touch of E. atrorubens in your picture (they do apparently very occasionally hybridise).

[Cali]

Thank you, Alisdair. I've looked it up and it seems to fit.

[JTh]

That was an impressive one. I am very surprised to see an Epipactis in bloom that early, most of them are flowering from late June

[Fleur Pavlidis]

This looks like Cali's original post but flowering exactly a month later in the mountains of central Greece. We saw whole banksides blooming in mauve and yellow. Unfortunately my photos didn't do it justice but here's an individual. They're really common and I was under the impression that it was Dactylorhiza. Help please.

[oron peri]

Do not agree with you, Oron, in my opinion it seems to be Anacamptis laxiflora.

Good  i got back to this thread, Hans you are absolutly right! I thougt of laxiflora and wrote palustris,
Thank you for correcting me.

[oron peri]

Fleur,
Your Orchid is Anacamptis palustris!

Dactylorhiza has long [usually green] showy bracts.

Anacamptis laxiflora has its middle lobe [ Lip divided into 3 lobes] shorther then the laterals while Anacamtis palustris has its middle lobe longer then the lateral lobes.

[oron peri]

That was an impressive one. I am very surprised to see an Epipactis in bloom that early, most of them are flowering from late June

Jorun,
Epipactis hellleborine  blooms in the South and Eastern Medit. from Mid April to early June.