Orchids Thrive Among the Dead

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SCittled between the gray tombstones of an old cemetery in Aldborough, England, you will find the first purple orchids swinging in the grass at high height. Although farms and cities have consumed a large part of the habitat of the forests and meadows of this species, the human tradition of posing the dead to rest in a terrestrial funeral ground has given this population a place to develop relatively free of human disturbances. A similar pairing can be found through the continent on the Greek island of Crete, where pink butterfly orchids flourish next to marble crossings that mark tombs. Orchid species seem to have found protection among the tombstones. And they are not alone.

At least 65 different species from the delicately flowering plants have been identified in the burial place of Europe, according to a study published in Global ecology and conservation in August. A team of Hungarian scientists has meticulously documented the diversity of orchids in 2,079 cemeteries in 13 European countries extending from Slovakia to Spain.

Many orchids are based on complex relationships with pollinating insects, ground mushrooms and even reception trees to develop and reproduce, making them exceptionally vulnerable to environmental changes. As a result, they serve as a bell type: in the places they thrive, it is often because the larger local ecosystem is healthy and prosperous.

Many orchid species are specially adapted to develop in nutrient -poor meadows where few other plants can survive. But these habitats disappear due to the runoff of fertilizers of farms and the decline of traditional sheep grazing practices that keep open meadows. Orchids lasted a decline of several decades throughout Europe.

Cemeteries are among the most biodiversity habitats in and close to cities.

The author of the Molnár Attila study, a Hungarian botanist, became interested in the morbid relationship between orchids and the dead after visiting several Turkish cemeteries in 2013 who are known among lovers of plants as large places to see wild orchids. On his return home, he presented a research project documenting the orchids of Turkish cemeteries to his new doctorate. Student, Viktor Löki, who said “yes” immediately. “He was leading five minutes,” recalls Löki, now a biologist at the Hun-Ren Center for Ecological Research in Budapest and co-author of the study.

The research of the teams quickly extended beyond Turkey in the rest of Europe. In 2018, Löki and his colleagues had visited more than 2,600 cemeteries in Europe and Turkey. Their results contribute to an increasing set of research which suggests that cemeteries around the world are hot spots of biodiversity. In fact, cemeteries are among the most biodiversity habitats in and close to cities, explains Jenő Nagy, principal of the study and biologist at the University of Debrecen, in Hungary.

The new study is the very first evaluation of the conservation value of cemeteries on a continental scale. Fifteen percent of the cemeteries interviewed contained orchids and the researchers found 44,680 individual plants. “The fact that so many orchid species occur in European cemeteries have been a surprise for me,” explains Ingo Kowarik, plant ecologist at Technische University Berlin in Germany.

Over the five years, Löki has spent cemeteries covering flowers of strange appearance, he has seen a diversity of attitudes with regard to scientists in cemeteries. In the mountainous north of Azerbaijan, “they were very favorable [of our research] And they said, “You do what you want,” recalls Löki. But just a four-hour drive in southern Azerbaijan, “people there were very suspect,” he said. They would approach us immediately, and when we answered their questions, they would tell us to leave, he said.

The traditions of different cultures influence, that their cemeteries welcome orchids and other plants. Many religions prohibit the construction, agriculture and the extraction of resources on the funeral field. But the architecture of the tomb is also important. On the Mediterranean coast of Spain and France, orchids increased in only two of the 150 cemeteries questioned. Rocky floors and local customs dictate that many bodies rest above the ground in structures, such as mausoleums, says Löki. These masses of concrete and marble leave very little open soil where plants can push, he says.

Some of the field guard practices in cemeteries can also be more user -friendly than others, researchers think that they did not have enough data to statistically test this idea. In some places, plants and animals lived largely not disturbed among the tombstones. Other cemeteries are frequently mowed and treated with pesticides to create a lush green lawn at the expense of biodiversity, says Nagy.

Löki noticed that this type of manicure was much more common in Europe than in Türkiye, where “they are rather interested in leaving nature alone for religious reasons,” he said. He is fascinated by fortuitous overlap in this case between spirituality and conservation. Orchids, in any case, are sublime.

Image of lead: Ondrej Prosicky / Shutterstock

• Mark Degraff

  Published on August 11, 2025

  Mark Degraff is a scientific journalist specializing in ecology and biodiversity. His work appeared in Mongabay, Eos, Mountain Journal, And many other points of sale.