Orchis pallens L. - Orchidaceae - pale orchid, Bleiches Knabenkraut, Bleiche Ragwurz

„The floral scent is interpreted differently, tending between black elderberry and cat pee.“ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasses_Knabenkraut

„This species has the peculiarity to develop a strong cat urine-like odor on drying for herbaria.“
[Winkler, E., Vollständiges Real-Lexicon der medicinisch-pharmaceutischen Naturgeschichte und Rohwaarenkunde (Vol.2), 1842, 181]

4-methyl-4-mercaptopentan-2-one
(4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one)

Flowers of O.pallens eminate an extreme non-pleasant scent somewhere in between cassis and tomcat urine, with linalool (15.1%), (E)-β-farnesene (20.5%), (E,E)-α-farnesene (8.0%) and 6-hydroxy-2,6-dimethylocta-2,7-dien-4-one (12.5%) as main components. „… but it took until the mid 1990s to reveal the olfactory secret through the identification of the expected 4-methyl-4-sulfanylpentan-2-one…“ - present in traces.
[Scent of a vanishing flora, Roman Kaiser, 2011, 183-184 and 392-393]

Orchis pallens L.; Barla, J.B., Flore illustré de Nice et des Alpes-maritimes. Iconographie des Orchidées, t.43 (1868)
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=722621

Orchis pallens, Kleinzell südöstl. Ghf.Plattner 2010; author: Rolf Marschner, www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at