S. sellantina was first described as Serapias ambigua subsp. sallentaina in 2015 by Lumare and Medagli. Its name refers to the Salento peninsula of southern Italy from where it was first recorded.
This orchid is of hybridogenous origin with S. cordigera and S. lingua being its parents. It is therefore a plant which potentially can (and does) appear wherever the two species occur together. This plant has been formally recognized as Serapias x ambigua with a range that incorporates most of the Mediterranean and north Africa. S. sellantina however is recognized as a bona fide species given that it represents a thoroughly studied stabilized population that occurs mainly in the province of Lecce.
Despite the local absence of its progenitors which therefore precludes the likelihood of backcrossing, the intermediate features exhibited by the plants can still vary in dominance and albeit it marginally, favour one parent or the other. S. sallentina prefers lowland grassy meadows, often damp and always alkaline where it grows in significant numbers from late April to May. As far as is known its current distribution is limited to Salento in southern Italy and central Sardinia.
The pictures come from an area between San Cataldo and the City of Lecce, dating from the 5th of May.
