Neotinea tridentata, the three-toothed orchid, is a species of orchid found in southern Europe from Spain to Turkey; northwards to the Crimea, Poland and Germany.[1] This orchid favours grassy places, woodland, scrub and maquis.[2] [3]
The genus Neotinea is named after an Italian botanist, Vincenzo Tineo (1791-1856), who was Director of Palermo botanical garden and later the Chancellor of Palermo University. His published works include 'Plantarum rariorum Sicilae' (1817) and 'Catalogus plantarum horti' (1827).[4] The specific epithet tridentata is Latin for three-toothed, a reference to the three main lobes of the labellum.[1] This species was formerly placed in the genus Orchis as O. tridentata. Orchis comes from the Greek for testicle, a reference to the shape of some species' tuberous roots.