This beautiful little orchid grows on diddle-dee heathland or sandy damp coasts. Its leaves are long and pointed and wrap around the main stem. It grows to 20-40 cm high. Flowers are creamy white with a greenish tinge and marked with green veins and spots.

Flowers from December to January. Favours dwarf shrub heath, maritime cliffs and slopes and sandy marshy peatland.

Rare, and native to the Falkland Islands, the Pale Yellow Orchid is on the Falkland Island red list as vulnerable. It is also found on southern South America.

This plant is legally protected. It is an offence to deliberately pick, collect, cut, uproot or destroy a protected wild plant.

Sources include:, A Field Guide to the Wildlife of The Falkland Islands and South Georgia - Ian J Strange, Plants of the Falkland Islands- Ali Liddle,The Vascular Flora of the Falkland Islands- D. M. Moore, B.Sc., Ph.D, 1968, The Flowering Plants of the Falkland Islands- E. F. Vallentin, Falkland Islands State of the Environment Report 2008 Otley H, Munro G, Clausen A, Ingham B. iucnredlist.org

Photographic credits: Robert Maddocks

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