I HOPE you will allow me to comment on the picture of an orchid on page 18 of yesterday’s Oxford Mail.

I do not think that it is a picture of a marsh helleborine which has fewer larger flowers which are purple and brown in colour.

The picture is almost certainly one of a common spotted orchid, which is not as common as its name implies, because of habitat loss.

BOB JOHNSTON
MSc in Ecology and Hydrology
former Biology Lecturer at Oxford Brookes
Kennington Road
Kennington
Oxford