Family: orchids (Orchidaceae)
Flowering time: May–July
Size: 10–25 cm
Habitat: mountain pastures, dry meadows, shrub slopes and forest edges
Green Wolf's Tongue (Coeloglossum viride) is a completely bare plant, which hides divided tubers in the soil. From them it sends up a vertical stem, leafy with 2 to 4 alternately arranged ovate leaves. The stem leaves are directed to the side and protrude upward. At the top of the stem develops a fairly dense inflorescence of small flowers. The yellowish and usually somewhat reddish lip is elongated club-shaped, up to 1 cm long, and trilobed. The greenish hood, formed by the remaining petals, is almost closed. The spur is short, almost globe-shaped. The floral bracts are long, much longer than the flowers.
Green Wolf's Tongue thrives on barren, moderately acidic fresh soils rich in humus. It prefers sunny but cool locations, so in the lowlands we will not find it. In the mountainous region of Slovenia it is relatively common, in other biogeographical regions it is very rare or absent. As a vulnerable species it is listed on the Slovenian red list, in addition, like all orchids, it is protected here.
