Military orchid  (Orchis militaris)

In Britain this orchid is very rare, and is known only from Suffolk and the Buckinghamshire Chilterns (3). Elsewhere it is known throughout Europe reaching as far north as southern Sweden (2). Before the nineteenth century it was fairly widespread in the chalklands of southern England (3). By the mid-1920s, however, it was thought to have become extinct in Britain, but was rediscovered in 1947 (2).

Inhabits calcareous, open grasslands and scrubby areas (2). It occurs in a chalk pit in Suffolk (2).