Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/175934/7147639
The species appears on Corsica, in Italy, on the Balkan Peninsula, particularly southwards along the Adriatic Coast and to Crete. Former reports of the species being found on Sicily are erroneous.
Even though the area of Orchis pauciflora is not really big, it is actually not under any special threat; this is unlikely to change as long as there are no changes to pasturing of its biotopes. This does not exclude populations being impaired or destroyed by human influence, for example, by changes to, or expansion of infrastructure, or changes of utilisation and housing. These are specifically vulnerable by tourism activities and the associated fast expansion of hotels and their facilities.
Sparse grasses, garrigues and amongst shrubs on dry stony ground are settled; here in particular, very rocky biotopes are colonised where the species can occur in strong populations. The species is bound to calcareous subsoil. They grow at altitudes that range from the coast at sea level, up to about 1,700 m.
Flowering time lasts from the end of March to the end of April. The fact that this plant is allogamous is proven by the appearance of hybrids with Orchis anatolica, Orchis mascula, Orchis olbiensis, Orchis provincialis, Orchis quadripunctata and Orchis sitiaca. Hybrids and probably hybrid swarms can occur with Orchis mascula and Orchis provincialis. Pollinators are unknown to date.
Orchis pauciflora is a geophyte that has two ovoid to ellipsoidal tubers during flowering time.
The plants grow up to a height of 10 to 20 cm (in special cases to 30 cm!) and have a rosette of 4-9 strongly green, unmottled, elongated oval leaves, 4-7cm long and 0.6-1.7 cm wide, that bend over backwards in a graceful curve, 2 - 3 further leaves vaginate the stalk. The bracts are membranous and they are with a length of 11-20 mm a little longer than the ovary.
The quite short, lax flower spike consists of up to 15 single blossoms, but as a rule there are normally considerably fewer, however, they look quite large on this small plant. The matched sepals thrust upwards and backwards, thus contributing to the impression of much larger flowers. These are 10-15 mm long and 6-10 mm wide, and by this they are clearly wider than the middle sepal. Together they form a helmet. The central lobe of the tri-lobed lip protrudes and shows a more intense yellow along its centre; this is covered by fine, brown to red-brown spots. These can be totally absent in exceptional cases. The side lobes that bend back are also a bright yellow.
The spur, at 14-25mm, is about one and a half times longer than the ovary. To begin with it is almost horizontal and the last third bends strongly upward. It is blunt at the tip and contains no nectar.
