Nigritella rhellicani

This small orchid is easy to recognise due to its dense inflorescence that is initially conical and then oval and consists in small blackish-red flowers with an intense scent of vanilla; the leaves are almost all basal and linear. Like all orchids that grow at our latitudes, the nigritella or dark vanilla orchid has a portion of swollen underground stem (tuber) that has the function of a storage organ. It has a digitate shape - in other words, a shape reminiscent of that of a small hand. Mountain people once gathered its intensely-fragrant sweet flowers to prepare infusions that they considered aphrodisiac.