Traunsteinera globosa

Family Orchidaceae. Grows solitary or in groups in wet meadows and clearings in beech forests in the Carpathians, in Crimea, in the middle reaches of the Dnieper, in the foothills of the Caucasus, in Central Europe, in the Balkans, and in Asia Minor.

A plant 30-65 cm tall with an ovoid entire tuber. The inflorescence is initially pyramidal, then globose, dense, many-flowered (up to 50–70 flowers). Perianth segments are at first folded into a helmet-like shape, later reflexed. Flowers are lilac-pink. The lip is up to 4.5 mm long, with darker purple dots. The middle lobe of the lip is truncate at the apex with a barely noticeable notch, at the bottom of which there is a small sharp-pointed projection. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate, with long sheaths, immediately narrowed to an acute tip, reflexed, up to 11 cm long. Bracts lanceolate, long-acuminate, purple-edged, equal to or longer than the ovary. Spur up to 3 mm long. A rare species listed in the Red Books of Russia and Ukraine.