578 Dactylorhiza majalis (Rchb.) P. F. Hunt & Summerh.

Syn.: Orchis latifolia L., O. majalis Rchb.

This polymorphic, calciphilous species is restricted to Europe (except N and S), but the distribution is in its details still insufficiently known. Fl. Eur. 5/1980, p. 335 reports five subspecies (incl. subsp. majalis throughout most of the-range of the species). Subsp. purpurella (T. & T. A. Steph.) D. Moresby Moore & Soó is here given specific rank and mapped separately (no. 579). For details concerning D. majalis s. lat. on the British Isles, see Perring & Walters, Atlas 1962, p. 341, 342; cf. also Fl. Eur., 1. cit.