Israel wildflowers: Holy orchid

Orchis sancta, Anacamptis sancta, Anteriorchis sancta, Holy orchid,
Hebrew: סחלב קדוש, Arabic: الأوركيد المقدس

Scientific name:   Orchis sancta L.
Synonym name:   Anacamptis sancta (L.) R.M.Bateman, Pridgeon & M.W.Chase, Anteriorchis sancta
Common name:   Holy orchid
Hebrew name:   סחלב קדוש
Arabic name:   الأوركيد المقدس
Family:   Orchidaceae, Orchid family, סחלביים


Life form:   Geophyte
Stems:   15-45 cm tall
Leaves:   Alternate, rosette, entire, smooth
Flowers:   Inflorescences in spikes; fairly large unspotted lip; colour is mostly pink but it does vary and can sometimes be tinged with brown
Fruits / pods:   Capsule
Flowering Period:   April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:   Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Mediterranean
Summer shedding:   Ephemeral
Protected Flower, צמח מוגן:   No


Derivation of the botanical name:

Orchis, ορχιϛ, “testicle” (here, shape of), from the rootform of some species. For that reason, Orchis has been regarded since antiquity as an aphrodisiac.

sancta, holy.
Anacamptis, anakampto, bend back, referring to the spur or to the reflexed tracts or pollina.
Anteriorchis, Latin anterior, foremost plus orchis.
The Hebrew name: סחלב, sahlav, Arabic sahlab, corrupted from tha’lab in husa al-tha’lab (=the fox’s testicles), the Arabic name of the tubers of the Orchis mascula (so called from the resemblance of the roots to testicles).

  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation R.M.Bateman is used to indicate Richard Mark Bateman, an U.K. botanist,President of the UK Hardy Orchid Society, Keeper of Botany at the Natural History Museum, London, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Head of Phylogeny and Palaeobotany at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and National Museums of Scotland.
  • The standard author abbreviation Pridgeon is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation M.W.Chase is used to indicate Mark Wayne Chase (born 1951), an US born British botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation E. Klein is used to indicate Erich Klein, (fl. 1989), an Austrian botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Strack is used to indicate Prof. Dr. Dieter Strack, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany.