Habitat: Lambou Mili parking place, altitude 185m. Young pine woods.

Ophrys fusca group, Lambou Mili parking place, © Jan van Lent, 7-2-14 #001

The Ophrys fusca subsp. fusca group on this habitat:
23-01-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,
30-01-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,
                    Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ.   06-02-2013: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010
07-02-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,                         Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ.

Plant 1 (left) Oph. sancti-isidorii, Lambou Mili parking place, © Jan van Lent, 7-2-14 #016

CONTINUATION from blog 30 & 31: The story of an ‘ordinary’ Ophrys fusca group, somewhere next to a parking spot in aLesvos pine forest along the ‘highway’ to Mytilini in the neighbourhood of Lambou Mili. Last week 3 plants were in flower (Ophrys 1: 2 flowers, Ophrys 4: 2 flowers & Ophrys 6: 1 flower).

Ophrys phaseliana, Lambou Mili parking place, © Jan van Lent, 7-2-14 #044

PART 3: 7-02-2014. This week, again one week later – and no rain this second week of February and with late spring temperatures – I went to this parking space to see if everything was still fine with ‘my’ Ophrys fusca-group. They were okay; plants 1 & 4 (Ophrys sancti-isidorii) were still flowering, although no 4 (also Ophrys sancti-isidorii) had lost the second flower (at the back), plant 6 was still flowering but not with the same flower as one week ago, that one was broken off, but fortunately a new flower was already there. Plant 10 also had a flower – had – because it was already half eaten by insects. I couldn’t identify it, but the lip had a narrow yellow border so hopefully next time those insects or animals go somewhere else for their lunch…

Plant 4: O. sancti-isidorii #036, Plant 6: O.phaseliana #090,  Plant 10: Oph. #022, 7-2-2014

And for the first time I can compare with the photographs I took last year at this habitat:
6-02-2013: On the 6th of February 2013 I started – that year- with my research of this fusca-group. At that time only plant 1 (left – Oph. sancti-isidorii) had 1 flower, plant 2 (left) was almost flowering, plant 4 (left) had flowered but was now already ‘empty’, eaten by insects I suppose (and that was the reason I went earlier this year to this habitat). Plant 6 (Ophrys phaseliana) was also almost flowering. So today I can only compare plant 1,  Ophrys sancti-isidorii from 7-02-2014 with the one from 6-02-2013.

Oph. fusca group, Lambou Mili parking place, © Jan van Lent, 7-2-14 #008 & 6-2-13 #037

pl1: 2013 #019 (left) – 2014 flower1 #086 & 2#032 (right), © Jan van Lent 7-2-14.

pl1: 2013 #025 (left) – 2014 flower1 #016 & 2#15 (right), © Jan van Lent 7-2-14.

BOTTOM-LINE: So no shocking changes today, but if you compare plant 1 Ophrys sancti-isidorii from both years with each other you see that flower no 1 looks almost the same as last year but flower 2 has a bluer coloured speculum and a darker, almost black lip. This year the lips of both flowers are longer – 16.9mm in 2014 against 14.8mm in 2013 – and more bent down. Last year the lip was still almost flat, and a little bit turned up at the end of the lip. Today the flowers looked like very big Ophrys sitiaca… but that is not possible, is it? But ‘Everything is possible in Greece’ as the Greeks like to say, so we will probably find that out in the next episode of ‘sooner or later’…

Jan van Lent, 21-02-2014 Eftalou, Lesvos.

Cyndi Lauper: ‘True Colours’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn0KFlbqX8

Habitat: Lambou Mili parking, altitude 185m. Young pine woods.

Ophrys fusca group, Lambou Mili parking © Jan van Lent 30-01-14

The Ophrys fusca subsp. fusca group on this habitat:
23-01-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,
30-01-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,
                    Ophrys phaseliana D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996;
                    Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT), KREUTZ 2004.

CONTINUATION from blog 30: The story of an ‘ordinary’ Ophrys fusca group, somewhere in a Lesvos pine forest along the ‘highway’ to Mytilini in the neighbourhood of Lambou Mili. Last week 2 Ophrys (nos 1 & 4) were flowering with only 1 flower each.

Plant 1 (left): Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii. © Jan van Lent, 30-01-14 #056 & #051

PART 2: 1 week later (30-01-14) I stopped again on this parking space to see if anything had changed after the 4 days of rain last week and it had; number 6 was now also flowering. So now nos 1, 4 and 6 are flowering and no 1 & 4 are (still) Ophrys sancti-isidorii –each has now 2 flowers.

Plant 4 (left): Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii. © Jan van Lent, 30-01-14 #045

Ophrys no 6 is more difficult to identify, it is certainly not Ophrys blitopertha although the rhomboidal form of the lip suggest otherwise, but after comparing this Ophrys with ‘the books’ I think it is the so called Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana.

Plant 6 (right): Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana © Jan van Lent, 30-01-14 #019 op #004.

RESEARCH: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana, description PETROU ET ALL (2011): ‘A taxon with a broad distribution in the Aegean islands and Turkey. Lip not constricted nor kinked at its base, horizontal to pendant, broadly rhomboidal, tri-lobed and velvety, with narrow yellow border. Hairs grow in irregular tufts, so the lip looks spotted yellow and brown, but no so strongly patched as the lip of Ophrys (fusca or parosica subsp.) parosica; lateral lobes broad, rounded, often strongly curving backwards, occasionally under the median (lobe), which is a little longer, slightly bi-lobed. Speculum brown or blue with white spots, blotches or streaks … and is not bisected by a groove.’
Well, here we are!

But the doubt remains: the flowering time according to Petrou is mid March-April; we’re now in January/February. And also its habitat here in the pine woods is different: ‘In abandoned cultivation, phrygana, maquis and shrubland.’

According to ANTONOPOULOS (2009) it is not certain that Ophrys phaseliana is flowering in Greece: ‘Similar Ophrys (late plants with a flat lip and irregular colour pattern of the flower- Ophrys parosica) from the shores of Anatolia and south-western Turkey are classified as the separate species Ophrys phaseliana and, it is possible that the plants from the east Aegean are belonging to this latter species, or that these 2 taxa are synonyms.’ Well, this is certainly not Ophrys parosica because that Ophrys has a different form of the labellum and is much more ‘blotchy’.

But from those shores of Anatolia and south-western Turkey KREUTZ (1998) only featured Ophrys phaseliana, no parosica although some of his photographs (p476) showed clearly the (nowadays known) Ophrys parosica. His description and habitat: ‘Light pine forest, phrygana, bushes and street banks: on dry, moderate wet limestone soil.’ of Ophrys phaseliana also fits ‘my’ Ophrys phaseliana but its time of flowering is still the problem: ‘middle of April – beginning of May’.
On Rhodes & Karpathos (2002) and on Cyprus(2004) KREUTZ didn’t find any Ophrys phaseliana or Ophrys parosica.

Nor did KARATZÁS & KARATZÁ (2009?) on Lesvos. They described Ophrys parosica but – and that is very rare because they featured all taxa ever mentioned to flower on Lesvos – no Ophrys phaseliana.

BAUMANN ET AL (2006) described Ophrys fusca subsp. phaseliana from the Aegean (Crete, Karpathos, Rhodos, Cyclades, Samos and Lesvos) but their text and photograph (maybe Ophrys sitiaca?) have nothing to do with the above mentioned Ophrys phaseliana.

DELFORGE (2005) finally features – of course – all above mentioned Ophrys. But ‘his’ Ophrys phaseliana (photographs and flowering season) has also nothing to do with this Ophrys phaseliana from Lambou Mili.

3x Ophrys fusca subsp., pl.1, pl. 4, pl. 6. Lambou Mili parking © Jan van Lent 30-01-14

BOTTOM-LINE: Ergo, the problem with this Ophrys is that the only difference – with the two Ophrys sancti-isidorii next to it (distance 50 cm) – is the rhomboidal labellum, the form of the side lobes and the yellow/orange instead of red/light brown border. But people are murdered for less, so to speak. But it is also possible that it is just a hybrid between Oph. sancti-isidorii and one of the ‘upcoming’ Ophrys; maybe with Ophrys blitopertha, lindia or pelinaea? We will probably find out in the next episode of ‘sooner or later’…

Jan van Lent. 14-2-2014.

Ophrys fusca group, Lambou Mili parking © Jan van Lent 30-01-14 #068

Madonna: ‘Sooner or Later’ scene from “Dick Tracy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piIH_6qLsNo.

Habitat: Lambou Mili parking, altitude 185m. Pine forest.

Young Pine trees at Lambou Mili parking © Jan van Lent 23-01-14 #162

The Ophrys fusca subsp. fusca group on this habitat:
23-01-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010.

REMARKS: This will be the story of an ‘ordinary’ Ophrys fusca group, somewhere next to a parking spot in a Lesvos pine forest in the neighborhood of Lambou Mili, about the geographic middle point of the island. For three years now I’ve been following and photographing this group of the ‘Brown Bee’ Ophrys a few times a year – between January and May – to see how those thirteen Ophrys develop through the weeks and months. Are they all the same taxa – Oph. fusca subsp. fusca (PEDERSEN/FAURHOLDT, KEW*) – or could it maybe possible that there are more taxa around? And if so, then sooner or later we have to decide how ‘we’ should call them. Let’s do an exploratory expedition to the roots of Ophrys fusca s.l.

13 Ophrys rosettes, © Jan van Lent, 2-01-14 #021.

HABITAT: Although this story started on a beautiful spring morning in March 2011 when I, driving to Lambou Mili, had to stop in a parking space for a pee, jumped out of the car, walked into a ‘skoupidia’,  (a place where people illegally drop their waste in the countryside, an old tradition on Lesvos) and almost stumbled over a small group of Ophrys, thirteen taxa in total, some flowering, some just in bud, some showing only their rosettes; I will start this Ophrys fusca (subspecies) investigation in the darkest days of the year – on the earliest January days of 2014.

13 Ophrys © Jan van Lent, 23-01-14 #001.

PART 1: So I went back to this parking place a couple of times in 2011 and 2012, a lot of times in 2013 and now in 2014, I went in on the 2^nd of January to photograph the rosettes.
I estimated that I had to wait a month or more before the first flowers should appear but I was wrong, on the 23^rd of January two of the thirteen species were already flowering; Ophrys 1 and 4, from Ophrys 2 the flower was broken off and lying on the ground. Most of the other Ophrys already had a stem. The question now is of course: Which are the first 2 species to flower on this habitat and what do I call them? For the regular readers of my blogs this will not be a surprise: I call them Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii (see Blog 17: Ophrys fusca: ‘That Was Only Yesterday’ & 29: ‘DNA, NAMES, the GOLDEN ORCHID AWARDS & Ophrys sancti-isidorii.)

Plant 1 (left): Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii. © Jan van Lent, 23-01-14 #134.

Plant 4 (left): Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii. © Jan van Lent, 23-01-14 #143.

BOTTOM-LINE: Before SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS described Ophrys fusca subsp. sancti-isidorii from Chios in 2010 I called them –with a working name – Ophrys prin-pelinaea. Prin  = ‘before’ in Greek, and pelinaea should be its name because DELFORGE decided in 2007 that there were no Ophrys leucadica anymore in the eastern Aegean (only in the western Mediterranean) and that the name should now be Ophrys pelinaea, flowering from the middle of April. So then there was a very big time gap between my first flowering Ophrys in January – without a name – and Ophrys pelinaea from the middle of April. My God, by that time the Ophrys season on Lesvos is already almost finished…So when SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS came up with Ophrys fusca subsp. sancti-isidorii I finally could give those Ophrys prin-pelinaea on Lesvos a real name. And now I’m waiting for the first Ophrys (fusca subsp.) leucadica to appear, orientalis by all appearances…

Jan van Lent 6-2-2014

Appearances can be deceiving: Mat Kearney 2011: ‘Sooner or later’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfF3BKLJjJ8

Pine forest behind the Lambou Mili parking place © Jan van Lent 23-01-14 #167

*KEW World Checklist of Selected Plant Families:
http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=463703