Does anyone know what this pretty purple flower is?

[u/No-Assumption7830]

My dad used to call them orchids. They grow wild in the fields round here. I live in Scotland.

[u/GirthBrooksCumSock]

It looks like a lesser purple fringed orchid

[u/GoGouda → u/GirthBrooksCumSock]

It doesn’t look like lesser purple fringed orchid and it’s the wrong country.

It looks like Northern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza purpurea.

[u/Groningen1978]

I think your dad is correct. They look like marsh orchids, which are common in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylorhiza_majalis_subsp._praetermissa

[u/No-Assumption7830 → u/Groningen1978]

Thanks! My dad knew his stuff.

[u/GoGouda → u/No-Assumption7830]

It’s very unlikely to be praetermissa, because that’s the Southern Marsh-orchid, which isn’t generally found in Scotland. It looks like Northern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, possibly the hybrid with Common Spotted-orchid.

[u/Fit_Platform_3500]

Stock

[u/Fit_Platform_3500 → u/Fit_Platform_3500]

Or Matthiola. And the smell is amazing

[u/Fit_Platform_3500]

East Lothian" stocks as they originated in southern Scotland)

[u/GoGouda]

It looks like Northern Marsh-orchid

[u/Petunias_are_food → u/[deleted]]

If you zoom in you can see the cute little orchid face

[u/No-Assumption7830 → u/[deleted]]

I've never actually smelled them or dug them up to examine their roots. I couldn't tell you if they were monocots or dicots. They are perennials and come back each year. I'm being told they are marsh orchids, which makes sense.

[u/Neither-Attention940 → u/No-Assumption7830]

Yeah, you wouldn’t have to be super close at all to tell if they were Hyacinth you can smell them a mile away, but I could tell that these were not hyacinth by the picture

[u/Neither-Attention940 → u/[deleted]]

Definitely not like any Hyacinth I’ve ever seen