Endemic · Strictly protected
L-Orkida Piramidali ta' Malta
A small, pale-pink orchid found only in the Maltese Islands, flowering in the garigue around mid-March.
The Maltese pyramidal orchid (L-Orkida Piramidali ta' Malta, Anacamptis urvilleana) grows only on Malta, Gozo and Comino. Some botanists treat it as a variety of the common pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis var. urvilleana), but it looks and behaves differently.
How to recognise it
Its flowers are white to pale baby-pink, packed into a short, rounded cone. The plant and its flowers are smaller than the common pyramidal orchid's.
It flowers in late winter and early spring, peaking around mid-March, six to eight weeks before the common pyramidal orchid, which flowers in Malta in May and June and is a stronger purplish-red.
A handy rule: a pale, compact orchid in the garigue in February or March is almost certainly the Maltese one.
Where to see it
It grows on dry, open limestone ground: garigue, steppe, karst and rocky grassland, sometimes in partial shade. Places where it has been recorded include Wied Babu near Żurrieq, Xemxija, the Dingli Cliffs, Wied il-Għasel near Mosta and Ta' Ċenċ in Gozo. It is commoner on Malta than on Gozo.
Protection
It is strictly protected under Maltese law: it may not be picked, dug up or damaged without a permit. The IUCN assesses it as Least Concern because it grows at about 50 sites, but individual sites are threatened by building, land reclamation, fires, dumping and trampling.
Sources: Times of Malta; IUCN Red List assessment (2017); MaltaWildPlants.com; Nature Trust Malta.
Threats
Construction, land reclamation, fires, dumping and trampling at the sites where it grows.
How to help
Admire it where it grows and keep to paths in spring. Never pick or dig up wild orchids: it is illegal. Report damage to its sites to ERA.
Photo: amantedarmanin (iNaturalist), CC BY 4.0.
