About Gymnadenia miniata (Crantz) Hayek
Gymnadenia miniata (Crantz) Hayek plants grow 10–20 cm tall. They have approximately 6 grass-like leaves at their base, around 5 smaller leaves along the stem, and 3–4 bract-like leaves at the top of the stem. The inflorescence is either cone-shaped or egg-shaped, measuring 18–26 mm long and 15–18 mm wide. The flowers are red, ranging from carmine to ruby, and all flowers on a single plant are the same uniform color. Flower buds are darker than open flowers. This species blooms from the end of June to mid-July. It can be difficult to distinguish Gymnadenia miniata from the very similar, more common species Gymnadenia bicolor using flower color alone. While Gymnadenia miniata always has uniform, darker flower color, and Gymnadenia bicolor often shows a color gradient from light at the bottom of the inflorescence to dark at the top, Gymnadenia bicolor can also produce uniformly colored flowers. Measuring average lengths of petals, sepals, and spurs can help with identification: Gymnadenia miniata has a noticeably thinner lip, thinner side sepals, a shorter spur, and wider petals than Gymnadenia bicolor. A second difference is sepal orientation: in Gymnadenia bicolor, sepals are unfolded, which makes the bottom sepal especially prominent, while in Gymnadenia miniata all sepals angle more forward and are less noticeable.
