Range
The range of the species covers Europe, with the exception of the colder areas in the north, North Africa, Caucasus and North Iran eastwards to the Western Himalayas. (Codes)
The original source of S. spiralis is the Mediterranean.Only when the man from 7000 to 4000 BC, by settling and converting forests to agriculture and animal husbandry, created the habitat for this orchid and allowed it to spread to the north.
In Germany, the species is found in the Frankenhöhe, the Franconian Jura, the Swabian Jura and the Alps . There are a few locations in southern Saxony-Anhalt . Outside these areas, the species is only very rarely encountered. In the west and north-west Germany it is probably extinct at all former location.
In Austria, the species is still present in all provinces, but it is also rare.
In Switzerland the most current locations are Lake Lucerne, the Rhine Valley in Chur, in the area of Lake Walen and the Ticino.
In Great Britain and Ireland its northern-most occurrence is on the Isle of Man. It has never been found in Scotland.
In Ireland it has a scattered southern distribution north to County Sligo.
In these countries the orchid grows on dry and semi-dry grasslands and heaths with regular grazing, where the accompanying vegetation is kept low. Very rarely, they can also be found in light coniferous forests.
Typical companion plants are often the Spiny restharrow Ononis spinosa, heather Calluna vulgaris and Euphrasia stricta.
Read more about this topic: Spiranthes Spiralis
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