The genus Dactylorhiza elata is a tuberous herbaceous perennial growing up to 50 cm, with magnificent spikes of purple flowers in spring. Meanwhile, the genus Ophrys bombyliflora is a pseudo tubers plant, 10–20 cm in height, with amazing bumblebee flowers. The stems of the genera D. elata and O. bombyliflora were circular within the cross-section. The outer first layer was the epidermis, consisting of one row of globular cells; however, the thickness varied in the taxa. In the stem, the sclerenchyma cells contrasted between both genera. The genus D. elata consists of many layers, and the thickness reached 133.6 μm, while two layers with a thickness of 43.5 μm in the genus O. bombyliflora. In both genera, the vascular bundles were in a collateral and closed type, with an arrangement as one row in the ground meristem, each consisting of xylem and phloem. The thickness of tissues varied between them, and the sclerenchyma cells covered the phloem only. The upper and lower epidermis of the leaves consists of one layer of cells covered with cuticle, and the cells’ shapes were ovate. The leaf was hypostomata (the stomata located in only in the lower epidermis). The ordinary cells’ shape was hexagonal in the upper epidermis and longitudinal in the lower one in the genus D. elata. However, it was triangular in the upper and tetragonal in the lower epidermis of the genus O. bombyliflora. Anomocytic types of stomata were evident in both taxa. The mesophyll differed, comprising 12–16 layers in the genus D. elata and 9–11 in the genus O. bombyliflora.

Keywords: Orchidaceae, D. elata, O. bombyliflora, sclerenchyma cells, meristematic tissues, epidermis

Key findings: The collection of plant samples of the genera D. elata and O. bombyliflora through the field survey came from the AL-Sulaymaniyah District (MSU), especially from Penjwin, Iraq. The study comprised anatomical description and comparison of the genera’s leaves and stems, even though both species belong to the same family Orchidaceae. However, the study observed anatomical features’ differences between them.