BBC News - Rare orchid stanhopea blooms at Treborth Botanic Garden

Rare orchid has flowered unexpectedly amid unseasonably warm November temperatures, giving botanic garden visitors a chocolate scented treat.

Nigel Brown, curator of the Treborth in Gwynedd, said the stanhopea was unusual both in the wild and when cultivated.

Botanic garden staff think the very sunny autumn may have triggered the unexpected bloom.

The plant usually flowers every other year during the summer.

The garden recorded the highest temperature for November in north Wales in 25 years on Sunday when the thermometer hit 18.2C (64.7F)

At Treborth - which is on land bought by Bangor University in the 1960s - the plant has six-inch long leaves coming out of a "green ribbed potato-like" bulb which stores water similar to a cactus.

The flower then dangles below the whole plant and each flower is a couple of inches across.

Mr Brown believes there is a link between the unusual November weather and its appearance.

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The finding may help explain why so many species in rainy areas either have droopy flowers or close their petals. Follow link for complete article at the BBC site>

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Website dedicated to rare flower

BBC News - UK

The lesser butterfly orchid grows on the edges of moorland
A website has been launched in a bid to record locations of an increasingly rare flower.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said the west of Scotland was considered a stronghold for the lesser butterfly orchid.

Its numbers have "declined significantly" across the UK, the government agency said.

The public can send locations of where they find it to the website: www.snh.org.uk/orchid2009/.

Plantlife Scotland, the Botanical Society of the British Isles and Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh are helping to gather information about the orchid's ecology and distribution.

SNH's plant specialist Robin Payne said: "We're grateful to all those who have taken part in the survey and submitted records on the website so far.

"Now that we know so much more about the lesser butterfly orchid we can take real, well informed action that will protect and conserve this species."

Lesser butterfly orchids grow on the edges of moorland or in damp grassland, often along the edge of ditches or even on roadside verges. The slender white flowers appear from early June through to mid-July.