No less than 60 orchid species are to be found growing wild in the Balearic Islands.
These are Mallorca’s uncultivated beauties: the orchids. On the Balearic Islands alone, there are 60 orchid species growing wild. They are bright pink-coloured, white, violet, blue-violet, reddish-brown or yellowish brown. Sometimes they are all one colour, at other times they are multicoloured or marbled and all of them are legally protected. The delicate plants deserve special attention for this reason. Thus, it is absolutely forbidden to pick them or dig them up.
Orchids grow in fields and meadows, on grass lawns, in damp areas, in pine and oak woods, but they also thrive at the side of paths and at the foot of dry walls. They shoot forth in the Mondragó nature reserve in the municipality of Santanyí, in the s‘Albufera near Alcúdia and in the Cabrera National Park and one comes across them also in the Tramuntana mountain range. The latter is one of their preferred territories: in the higher regions, as a rule, the diversity of species is greater than in the ‘flat land’.
Amongst the most widely disseminated species is the pink-coloured Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis). The plants grow up to 40 cm. high. Flowering in May and June, they particularly thrive in sparsely wooded areas.
The Mirror Orchid (Ophrys speculum) on the other hand, displays its dark red-yellow-blue flowers much earlier. As early as February it raises its vivid little head towards the sun, and continues in flower up until April. The colour blue, alongside pink and dark red tones, is also to be seen in the Ophrys balearica or Balearic Orchid. This, indeed, is the only native orchid species in the entire Balearic archipelago.
These orchid species, by the way, employ unusual methods to cast their spell over insects. They imitate with their flower and form female insects and thereby entice the males into supposed mating. A trick nevertheless, that leads to the pollination of the Bee or Wasp Orchid.
Among the largest wild orchid species in Europe is the Giant Orchid (Himantoglossum robertianum). It well deserves its name, rising to a height of up to 70 or 80 cm. This orchid is to be found on road verges and is relatively easy to recognize owing to its size. It flowers in February and March in particular. Certainly the White Helleborine (Cephalanthera damasonium) with its white to cream-yellow flowers comes a close second to the Giant Orchid. The plant with its unusual name may have a height of 60 cm. and grows in shaded locations under the oaks in the Tramuntana Mountains.
Incidentally, the entire Mediterranean region is the natural habitat of orchids. Thus these mysterious beauties are to be found not only on Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera but also, among other places, on Crete, Sardinia and the Italian mainland.