Habitats: Plakés, Aspros Glaros, Alifantá, Anemomilos.

Early Ophrys at Plakés, © JvL 16-02-2013 #050

Ophrys leucadica (Renz 1928) H. Kretzschmar 2002, or:
Ophrys fusca (Link 1800) ssp. leucadica (Renz 1928) H. Kretzschmar 2002.
The Pseudophrys complex; the fusca group.

REMARKS: As a follow-up to my blog 17: ‘Ophrys fusca: that was only yesterday’, about the earliest of the Orchids on Lesvos, Ophrys sancti-isidorii Saliaris & Alibertis, I immediately went out hunting again to see if my theory is correct: that the first Ophrys from the Pseudophrys complex which are flowering on Lesvos is now Ophrys sancti-isidorii, followed by Ophrys sitiaca and the oriental version of Ophrys leucadica. And I also had to check if the Ophrys at Plakés (in the middle lobe of the island, between Vatera and Nifida) were already flowering and, if so, if they also had a red instead of a yellow edge on the lip.

HUNTING: But driving to this Plakés habitat so early this year was not easy because the dirt roads and tracks were so filled with mud and water, that even in a four-wheel drive it was too dangerous to drive to the spot (and not able to reach it, I had to go backwards all the way back up a steep hill with a stinking clutch), so we walked. For the first minute or so you don’t see the orchids, your eyes have to focus on them, like on mushrooms and wild asparagus, but after we climbed up to the higher olive grove suddenly the Ophrys were there, all around us, tens of them, we counted more than 60 plants on this spot. At this time of year there were no other flowers or orchids around on this isolated habitat, only the small brown Ophrys of the fusca-complex!

Ophrys sancti-isidorii at Plakés, © JvL 16-02-2013, #057, #074, #070.
Height: 34cm, Lip length: 14mm.

And it was not only just-opening plants, the Ophrys above (#057, #074, #070) which is in my opinion Ophrys sancti-isidorii, was 34 centimeters high and had 5 flowers (Saliaris mentioned a height of 7-17cm and between 1-4 flowers); they don’t grow so high in just one week so they had to have been there already for 2 weeks, so from the end of January. This big Ophrys had a yellow border on his lip, but looking around us we saw also a lot of Ophrys with a red border, for instance the Ophrys below. But this one was certainly not an Ophrys sancti-isidorii! To me this looks like the Ophrys leucadica (which according to some experts does not exist in the eastern Mediterranean)… And observe this beautiful speculum! I saw this speculum also this year on the Alifantá and Anemomilos Ophrys leucadica orientalis.

Ophrys leucadica at Plakés, © JvL 16-02-2013,  #030, #034, #040: Height: 18cm, Lip length 13.6mm.

Looking around I saw between those 60 or so plants, apart from Ophrys sancti-isidorii, 4 different looking maybe hybrid species but no Ophrys sitiaca! After taking a lot of photographs and measurements  I went down to the track where my companions were waiting impatiently because there, in the channel next to the road and even on the road there were again tens of Ophrys flowering, which I (we) hadn’t noticed earlier… and if you compare this Ophrys with the ones from the same habitat last year and from the sitiaca from recent years in Alifantá you can’t ignore it: this is not Ophrys leucadica nor sancti-isidorii, those were for sure Ophrys sitiaca!

Ophrys sitiaca at Plakés, © JvL 16-02-2013,  #0102 & #101. Height: 8cm, Lip length: 16mm.

RESEARCH: The research on Ophrys sancti-isidorii (Blog 17) is almost the same as on Ophrys leucadica orientalis because until last year they were considered to be the same taxon. Ophrys sitiaca I researched already last year (see blog 2: ‘Boxing lessons’). And if the Ophrys leucadica here in the east of the Mediterranean are molecularly so different to the taxa in the west-Mediterranean, they still really look and are described alike. So to ‘delete’ O. leucadica in favor of O. sancti-isidorii, O. sitiaca or even O. pelinaea is in my opinion unfounded.  O. leucadica is a more ‘potent’ plant; the lip is just a little bit bigger than O. sancti-isidorii and more rounded, rhomboidal at the base. And Ophrys pelinaea flowers later, from the beginning of April (on Lesvos).

Ophrys leucadica at Alifantá, © JvL 22-03-2011 #097

BAUMANN ET AL. (2006) Ophrys fusca ssp. leucadica: ‘Lip somewhat curved, brown, often yellow edged. Swellings at the base of the lip raised, side borders extended; east-Mediterranean. Synonyms: O.creberrima, Crete; O.cressa, Crete; O.eptapigiensis, Rhodes; O.leucadica, W-Greece; O. lindia, Rhodes, O.punctulata, W-Greece.’
So in their opinion Ophrys leucadica is west-, Ophrys fusca ssp. leucadica east-Mediterranean. Well…
But let’s stay today with the latest ‘Greek’ Orchid literature, ‘Orchids of Greece’ by PETROU ET AL. (2011) Ophrys fusca ssp. leucadica: ‘A taxon distributed from Dalmatia to Turkey; it occurs in the central and southern mainland, and the Ionian and Aegean islands.’  And their description of the lip: ‘slightly constricted at the base, nodding to pendant, rhomboidal, velvety, trilobed, reddish brown, with narrow yellow border.’ And about the speculum: ‘metallic blue, often with darker or white spots, its edge forming a broad, shinier or white ω; it often reaches the sinuses of the lateral lobes, and is bisected by a deep brown groove.’  This deep brown groove on the speculum I see only sporadically on the Lesvos Ophrys leucadica.
ANTONOPOULOS (2009) about Ophrys leucadica: ‘With a wide distribution, this is the earliest-flowering Ophrys of the fusca group, blooming before the other members in March in the Ionian Islands, southern Greece and the Aegean basin. It has a medium-sized lip, usually dropping and forming an angle of 45° with the stem, and has two semi-circular white areas at the lower edge of the speculum.’ And: ‘Ophrys leucadica is considered as an ancestral species, forming many local variations all over Greece.’
And yes, KARATZÁ (2007) also described Ophrys leucadica in his book. He saw them apparently around Pigí (on the Gulf of Gera), Thermí, Mória, Alifantá (yes!), Megalochóri and around Mésouna above Plomári (yes!), flowering from the beginning/middle of March until the middle of April.

Ophrys leucadica at Plakés, © JvL 16-02-2013 #010

So when I go through all my Orchid literature I’ve noticed that most Greeks, Germans and Dutch stayed with the name Ophrys (fusca ssp.) leucadica. Only the Belgians, French and some English ‘deleted’ Ophrys leucadica in favor of a new species and a new name.
And that again corresponds with a new book that I got this week, ‘Ophrys d’ Italia’ by ROMOLINI, SOUCHE & DOTTI (2012).The authors never mention one of the (east-Mediterranean) known Pseudophrys species in their book; they have completely different names for all of the species in the Italian fusca group except for Ophrys calocaerina Devillers-Terschuren & Devillers, which also flowers on Lesvos. Not made up by them (well Ophrys romolinii was made up by SOCA: ‘en homage au naturaliste Italien contemporain Rolando Romolini…ouch!), but a lot by Devillers-Terschuren & Devillers and Delforge. So if the Spanish orchidologists also make up their ‘own’ fusca-names the Tower of Babylon will be complete!
And my eyes felt unintentionally on this paragraph: ‘La plupart des nouvelles descriptions apparues depuis dix ans ont été réalisées par des amateurs non botaniste, avec parfois un manque de connaissance des plantes dans leur ensemble, de la bibliographie et tout simplement du Code de Botanique qui laissant perplexe. Il en résulte un nombre de synonymes assez consequent.’
In translation: ‘Most of the new descriptions that have appeared in the last ten years have been produced by non-botanist amateurs, with sometimes such a lack of knowledge of the plants’ families, of the bibliography, and of the basic Botanic Code, that it leaves one perplexed. The result is a significant number of synonyms.’
Again ouch, shame on you Romolini & Souche, almost all new Orchid descriptions and new fantasy names come from ‘professional’ botanists like Devillers-Terschuren & Devillers and Delforge, because (and then I have to guess) they want their name in Orchid history…
Nevertheless: a stunning book with beautiful drawings and lots of very interesting and historical background information on Italian orchids. (Only in French and Italian)

Ophrys leucadica at Anemomilos, © JvL 21-02-2013 #303

BOTTOM-LINE: For a final February hunt I went out on the 21^st of February to check out the habitat where I found Pseudophrys (and Neotinea maculata) last year: the Aspros Glaros, the ‘White Gulls’ between Kalloni and Lambou Mili. And I also went again to Lambou Mili, Alifantá and Anemomilos to see what was new or what was changed in the last week.
In Aspros Glaros I found (as well as tens of beautiful white Crocuses, the first – not orchid – flowering plants except Anemones and Dandelions) again a group of already flowering Pseudophrys, 11 taxa, but only one of them could I identify as Ophrys sancti-isidorii (with a yellow edge on the lip). The others I still have to study carefully, they are maybe hybrids between Ophrys sancti-isidorii, sitiaca, leucadica orientalis and lindia.
On the parking spot near Lambou Mili nothing had changed, the 3 flowering Ophrys were still flowering, the 6 not yet flowering Ophrys were still not flowering.
And above Alifantá O. sancti-isidorii was also still flourishing, but also some newcomers were trying to get their flowers out: Ophrys leucadica orientalis!
At Anemomilos the group of O. sancti-isidorii was still there, but also some new ones had came up almost on the track, and there was this big newcomer: Ophrys leucadica, orientalis of course.

As ‘dessert’ one of the pictures I made – two weeks ago – of the already flowering Himantoglossum robertianum (ex Barlia robertiana – see Blog 5: ‘The big and the beautiful’ and Blog 7: ‘Lost in Wonderland’) in the ‘down under’ Eftalou olive grove. But will it last for another two months as it did last year? Because the lower flowers of this Robert’s Giant Orchis are already eaten… And I noticed that also a lot of Pseudophrys were already half eaten. Is there not enough food around for the insects, reptiles and the tortoises that they have to eat the orchids? Is the Greek human crisis also expanding to the ‘animal’ society? No money, no honey?

Himantoglossum robertianum, Eftalou, © JvL 13-02-2013 #010

Jan van Lent, Eftalou 20-2-2013.

Marcy Playground: ‘No money no honey’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_MsY9gpxno

Habitats: Alifantá, Anemomílos, Lambou Míli, Plakés, Mixou.

Ophrys sancti-isidorii or Ophrys leucadica? Alifantá, © JvL 30-01-13 #016

Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. Saliaris & Albertis 2010, or
Ophrys (fusca ssp.) leucadica Renz 1928.
The Fusca group, on Lesvos also: Ophrys calocaerina, Ophrys cinereophila.

HUNTING: On one of the last days of last month, the 30^th of January, I decided to have a look at my Ophrys habitats in the south-east of Lesvos to see if there were already any Ophrys around this early in the season. I went there because SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS (Chios 2010) and TAYLOR (Chios 2012) described a very early Ophrys from Chios flowering between January and early April: Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii. And because Chios is our neighbouring island (you can see it on clear days from the south of Lesvos) I thought that it could be a good idea to go out hunting here this early in the Orchid-season. Because until now the first Ophrys from the (Pseudophrys) Fusca, Attaviria, Blitopertha and Omegaifera groups (groups by ANTONOPOULOS 2009) I found was on the 18^th of February above Alifantá: Ophrys (omegaifera ssp.) sitiaca (see Blog 2: ‘Boxing lessons’.)
Here in Eftalou we have the first flowering Ophrys from the Lutea group, Ophrys sicula, every year between the 11^th of February and the 1^st of March depending on weather conditions; see Blog 1: ‘The first Orchid of 2012 is…’
And yes, after a long search above Alifantá I discovered one (1) flowering ex-fusca, ex-leucadica and probably now this newly named Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii. On my photograph #016 you can’t see it clearly but unfortunately it is already half eaten. And if you compare it with the one I took on the same spot on the 18^th of February 2011 they are almost alike. Last year I visited this habitat on the 3^rd of March but I thought that Ophrys (omegaifera ssp.) sitiaca had already taken over and I ignored the ‘different’ looking species…

18-2-11 Alifantá, #067 Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii?

So I went to another habitat where a lot of Ophrys are growing, alongside the Gulf of Gera above Koudouroudia: Anemomilos. And, after half an hour or so hunting , I shot 2 small brown Ophrys from the Fusca/Attaviria groups. And do we notice that all these Ophrys have an orange border to the lip and not a yellow one? That is something I spotted already last year on a lot of Pseudophrys on Lesvos. The Alifantá Ophrys and one of the Anemomilos Ophrys (#041) I can, without having scruples against Ophrys leucadica, place under this new name Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii.

Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, Anemomilos, © JvL 30-01-13 #041

Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, Anemomilos, © JvL 30-01-13 #057

But the second Anemomilos Ophrys (#045), standing 1 meter away from the former, is in my opinion definitely not a sancti-isidorii, but an Ophrys (fusca ssp.) lindia. Ophrys (fusca ssp.) lindia, so early? Yes, I spotted them already in the beginning of March in 2011 and 2012 but in January… Maybe 2013 will turn out to be an extreme early year for orchids!

Ophrys sancti-isidorii or Ophrys lindia? Anemomilos, © JvL 30-01-13 #45

RESEARCH: There is not much to research on Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, at least not on the internet. The only interesting article I found on the internet about O. (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii was Michael R. LOWE’s essay: ‘Studies in Ophrys L. section Pseudophrys Godfrey – II Andrena flavipes pollinated taxa’ from 2011. This is a very interesting and painstakingly conscientiously essay about the Ophrys in Europe which are pollinated by the male bee Andrena flavipes. In (very) short he concluded that there are in the east of the Mediterranean (well east… his investigation is more west-Mediterranean aimed, the most east he investigated is Kefallonia – which is in the west of Greece, almost Italian… and Rhodes, which is in the extreme south-east of the Aegean) certainly two species are pollinated by Andrena flavipes; the already named (still) Ophrys leucadica and this new, very early subspecies: Ophrys fusca ssp. sancti-isidori A. & P. Saliaris & Albertis 2010.

O. sancti-isidorii, Anemomilos, O. sancti-isidorii, Alifantá. O. sancti-isidorii? Anemomilos
© JvL 30-01-13 #057.               © JvL 3-03-11 #047          © JvL 3-03-12 #025

And the name Andrena flavipes I remembered from Burkhard BIEL’s essay ‘Die Orchideenflora der Insel Lesvos’ (published in the Journal Europäischer Orchideen in 1998), which covered 17 years (1981-1998) of Orchid research on Lesvos. In this essay he separated the O.fusca complex into 4 different species: O.blitopertha-fusca, O.cinereophila-fusca, O.flavipes-fusca and O.attaviria and the ones which couldn’t be identified as O.fusca s.l. But around 1998 it was resolved (by DELFORGE) that Ophrys fusca was the name of a west-Mediterranean Ophrys and that the look-a-like plants in the east of the Mediterranean should now be called Ophrys leucadica.

And also Ophrys flavipes doesn’t live here anymore, not because it vanished but because it was renamed in Ophrys bilunulata Risso by Delforge. And he stated that O. bilunulata was also a west-Mediterranean species…So what should we call the early east-Mediterranean Ophrys (fusca ssp.) flavipes-bilunulata today? Ophrys (fusca ssp.) fusca-orientalis? Ophrys (fusca ssp.) leucadica?

For SALIARIS and ALIBERTIS (2010) it is clear enough: Ophrys fusca ssp. sancti-isidorii. And I agree with them (except for the name: I’m not a fan of putting a Martyrs name on an orchid, before you know it a lot of Bible names, for instance Ophrys maria-magdalena or Ophrys blessed virgin appear, renamed by an extreme Christian orchidologist): those very early and very small Ophrys on Chios and, in my opinion, also on Lesvos (and maybe on Samos) are indeed different from Ophrys leucadica and pelinaea. Saliaris and Alibertis description of this early Ophrys matches the Ophrys I found on 30 January, except for the yellow edges around the lip, they are on Lesvos orange/light brown. And this difference (the colour on the edge of the lip) can give some Belgian orchidologists of course the opportunity to rename them as O. devilleriana-terschurii.

TAYLOR’S note on Ophrys sancti-isidorii is not very elaborate; he just widened its flowering period. But about Ophrys leucadica he wrote: ‘… the cause of much uncertainty to many of us from 2003 has now been subject to further detailed consideration. Some of the plants previously identified as this species have now been recognised as having been O. (fusca ssp.) pelinaea. However, some early flowering plants have now been recognised as having been O.fusca ssp. sancti-isidorii. Furthermore, some of the plants also previously identified as this species are now considered to have been Ophrys (omegaifera ssp.) sitiaca. This taxon (O.leucadica) has therefore now been deleted from the (Chios) checklist.’ Well, that is a pity for Chios but on Lesvos I won’t delete Ophrys (fusca ssp.) leucadica so easily.

But that was only yesterday because once again I checked the internet site of James Mast de Maeght (ophrys-genus.be) and to my surprise I read that already in 2007 PAULUS & SCHLÜTER demonstrated (by means of molecular research) that the eastern Aegean ‘O.leucadica’ clearly differs from the west-Mediterranean ‘real’ O.leucadica. So suddenly Ophrys leucadica is also a western species? And in the east-Aegean we have now Ophrys leucadica-orientalis? Because a few years ago it was still an eastern species, confirmed by DELFORGE (2005) himself. But yes, 2 years later (Chios 2007) Delforge also stated that O.leucadica is not anymore around in the eastern part of the Mediterranean but that it should now be named Ophrys pelinaea… Why? Did I miss something here? Is it because Delforge came across this Ophrys on mount Pelinaion on Chios and ‘suddenly there was a light from above and it was decided that O.pelinaea was the better name?’ He mentioned also that the flowering times of O.pelinaea are between mid April and mid-May. But Biel’s find list (and mine) showed that all Ophrys flavipes-fusca-leucadica species were flowering between the end of January (since last week) and the 18^th of April.

Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, Lambou Mili, © JvL 6-02-13 #009

BOTTOM-LINE: And the above Ophrys is my ‘catch’ from the 6^th of February, the first flowering Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii from the parking place above Lambou Mili. And yes, if you compare this orchid with the species from 30 January (of course not the O. fusca ssp. lindia), you can see the similarity.
So again, what should one call this early Ophrys fusca species today? I called them (through lack of alternatives and as a working name) Ophrys proto-pelinaea. Now I can give them a real name: Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, thanks to Saliaris & Alibertis. Or should we wait until some orchidologist will declare that Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii is also a west-Mediterranean species and we will have on Lesvos Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-orientalis? And anyway, what was wrong with the name Ophrys (fusca ssp.) leucadica-orientalis?

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 11-2-2013.

Ophrys (fusca ssp.) sancti-isidorii, Lambou Mili, © JvL 6-02-13 #006

‘That Was Only Yesterday’: Spooky Tooth (1969):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGxRstWAZBc

P.S. I put between all the Ophrys species in this blog ‘fusca ssp.’ because of the taxonomy list in “Orchids of Greece” from PETROU, PETROU and GIANNAKOULIAS  (2011). I will not be a complete ‘follower’ of their taxonomy list (because for instance renaming Ophrys sicula Tineo 1846 into Ophrys lutea ssp. minor (Todaro) O. & E. Danesch, is in my opinion eh… strange. Almost all orchidologists nowadays used the name sicula for this small yellow Ophrys (even Delforge and Devillers et al. – actually they write Ophrys sicula s.l., so that ‘we’ know that they will change this name in the nearby future so that they can put their own name behind as authors) so why change it? In my opinion they should have renamed it as Ophrys lutea ssp. sicula. But their intentions are courageous…

Habitat: i Panagia Amalí.

Agh. Amalí. © JvL 9-06-10 #009

On Lesvos there are possibly 5 Epipactis growing, divided (by Delforge) into 4 groups:
E. microphylla Swartz 1800 (atrorubens-group);
E. turcica C.A.J. Kreutz 1997 (tremolsii-group);
E. helleborine Crantz 1769 (helleborine-group);
E. densifolia W. Hahn, J. Passin & R. Wegener 2003 (helleborine-group);
E. persica (Soó) Sundermann 1980 (phyllanthes-group).

HABITAT: Every year between the 15^th of May and the 1^st of July I go a few times to church. In fact I visit a rather special chapel, i Panagia Amalí (The Holy Mary of Amalí). This chapel is situated high on a mountain above the airport of Mytilini in the south-east part of Lesvos and the old pine forest surrounding this chapel has my special interest because in this habitat a lot of Epipactis (or in English ‘Helleborine’) are growing. And, as is the case with all Epipactis in Europe, they are very difficult to distinguish from another. In 2009 I went up three times, in 2010 four times and in 2011 three times: I made hundreds of photographs and carefully studied my books. And then I let them slip (or sleep) away into my hard disks. Because I really couldn’t tell what was the difference between them. Or yes, I could tell the difference but that didn’t match the description and the photographs of ‘the’ books. But this time I am determined to do the job…

Epipactis helleborine Amalí. © JvL 15-06-12 #035

HUNTING: Today I came in from Ag. Georgios, meaning that I took the track up the mountain to Amalí from the south and when I came up in the pine forest I saw on the left, high up the steep bank, first a withered Epipactis (turcica?) and then a blooming one with beautiful reddish-purple flowers. Driving on and around the corner, almost in sight of the Chapel, there is a river (well, actually a small stream in winter and early spring, in summer it is completely dry) and from there I walked half an hour along this riverbed (and taking photographs of the Epipactis which were flowering): then I walked back to the side and behind the chapel into the woods. Again, after half an hour I crossed the road and went into the woods on the other side. Walking back in the direction of the church, I turned off to the left and searched for one hour. All together I spotted today 19 Epipactis species, some were already withered but on 8 beautiful flowering species I spent a long time and a lot of photographs. But again there is this main question: which is which?

Epipactis inflorescence on Amalí, 15-6-2012:

E. helleborine #089,               E. densifolia #115,                 E. turcica #190.

RESEARCH: In 1980 Sundermann described 5 Epipactis species, (and 14 subspecies + 5 variations) for Europe and the Mediterranean:
E. helleborine with o.a. ssp. helleborine: in the whole of West and East Europe included Greece, Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus, Turkey, Persia to Mid Asia, in North America established; and ssp. persica: Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan.
E. microphylla: almost in the whole of Europe, in Greece, on Crete.
E. atrorubens (with o.a. ssp. atrorubens Besser 1809): also in the North of Greece.
E. palustris Crantz 1769: almost in the whole of Europe, also in the North of Greece.
E. veratrifolia Boiss. et Hohenacker 1854: Cyprus, East-Turkey, Lebanon, Caucasus, Persia.
25 years later (DELFORGE 2005) described 59 Epipactis species (and tens of subsp. & var.) for Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, divided into 8 groups.
Again one year later Baumann, Künkele and Lorenz (2006) described ‘only’ 36 Epipactis taxa for Europe and the neighbouring regions, a lot of them subspecies of E. atrorubens, E. helleborine (including subsp. bithynica with the variations E. degenii (Gr), E. densifolia (Tü), E. Heraclea (Gr), E. turcica (Tü, Levant)), E. persica and E. viridiflora.

Epipactis flowers on Amalí, 15-6-2012:

E. helleborine #173,               E. densifolia #115,                 E. turcica #198.

In 1980 E. turcica and E. densifolia didn’t exist yet. E. turcica came in from Turkey with Kreutz in 1997, E. densifolia in 2003 with W. Hahn, J. Passin & R. Wegener, also from Turkey. And when they are around in Turkey (Anatolia) they can also be around on Lesvos, like both taxa do on our neighbouring island Chios (DELFORGE & SALIARIS 2007, TAYLOR 2012).

There are no Epipactis taxa found (yet) on Rhodes & Karpathos (KREUTZ 2002): ‘Astounding and surprising is the complete absence of species of the genera Epipactis and Platanthera on both islands’). But strangely enough, two other taxa, E. microphylla & E. cretica are growing on Crete. No Epipactis taxa were found on the other Dodecanese islands. (KRETZSCHMAR 2004).

And are they around on the two Aegean islands between Chios and Rhodes; Samos and Ikaria? There is not much Orchid information from Ikaria as far as I know; only S. & K. Hertel did research on Ikaria (and on Samos, Chios & Lesvos) in 2005. But they didn’t find Epipactis taxa on Ikaria (or on the other three islands) because they were visiting those islands in March and April. And even on Lesvos there are no Epipactis around in April…

On Samos DELFORGE found in 2008 E. densifolia: ‘very local, usually identified to E. helleborine or E. atrorubens before 2003’. Delforge didn’t find E. turcica on Samos (like Reinhold Emmrich did in 1981). Further down in the Mediterranean on Cyprus KREUTZ (2004) found E.condensata, microphylla, troodi & veratrifolia.  

And in Turkey (KREUTZ 1998) they have of course the most Epipactis taxa (because it is so big, it has so many steep ravines, deep rivers and high mountains): E.bithynica, E.condensata, microphylla, helleborine, turcica, palustris, persica, pontica & veratrifolia.

But Lesvos doesn’t do so badly either; we have also rivers (not so deep) and mountains (no so high). Therefore Lesvos has 4 Epipactis taxa according to KARATZA (2008):E. turcica (Amalí, Olymbos, Megalochori), E. helleborine (Amalí, Krátigos, Olymbos, Megalochori), E. densifolia (Amali), and E. microphylla (Olymbos, Megalochori). Spyridon Tsiftsis found also Epipactis persica on Lesvos on 20-6-2010. Manning: ‘The very beautiful Persian helleborine is known to grow very rarely and locally over a substantial area from Anatolia to the Himalayas. However, this is the first confirmed site in Greece (let alone Lesvos) and may represent the only site for Western Europe’.

BOTTOM-LINE: 5 Epipactis taxa on Lesvos, of which E. turcica, E. helleborine and E. densifolia are said to flower on Amalí:

E. turcica, Amalí. © JvL 15-6-2012 #198

If E. turcica is the first to flower on Amalí (mid-May), the dark reddish-brown to dark purplish flowers (actually almost the same colour as Epipactis atrorubens) and, by the 15^th of June almost withered flowers, should be E.turcica. It has smaller, more upward pointing leaves with undulate (but not as strong as E.densifolia) margins. The elongated inflorescence is near lax and near one-sided.

E. densifolia, Amalí. © JvL 15-6-2012 #125

E. densifolia has presumably more densely arranged leaves around the lower part of the stem (but after four years of counting of their leaves I really can’t tell) but they have densely arranged flowers on the upper part of the stem, so why ‘Hahn and friends’ didn’t called them E. densiflora instead of densifolia?

E. helleborine, Amalí. © JvL 15-6-2012 #173

E.helleborine, the last to flower on Amalí (it flowers in some years 2-3 weeks after E.turcica), has bigger circular shaped and more spirally arranged leaves with almost straight (not undulate) margins, the flowers are more greenish, although the sepals and petals are often infused with red or purple. In my opinion the bosses at the epichile (front part of the lip) are less pronounced than on E.densifolia and the flowers look less rhomboidal (squarish) than E.turcica.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 14-9-12

‘River Deep, Mountain High’: Ike and Tina Turner, 1965.

View over Megalochori mountains, © JvL 3-6-2011 #058

Habitat: Sanatorio & Megalochori.

Himantoglossum caprinum (M.F.A. von BIEBERSTEIN) SPRENGEL 1819.
The Himantoglossum hircinum group. On Lesvos:
H. affine (BOISSIER) SCHLECHTER 1918,
H. montis-tauri C.A.J. KREUTZ & W. LÜDERS 1997,
H. caprinum (M.F.A. VON BIEBERSTEIN) SPRENGEL 1826

3x Himantoglossum op4, Megalochori, © JvL 10-6-2012 #286

HUNTING: Hunting for the last orchid species of the year means going to very deserted places in very hot conditions. The Himantoglossum-group is especially infamous for this because they grow up from Megalochori in the mountains (630m) on a small gravel track which has, when you finally have reached it, always the burning sun straight on your head (and on the plants) and a hot wind starting to blow the lips of your Himantoglossum in all directions. After photographing those plants for 2 hours or so you are dead meat. Fortunately there are only 6 or 7 plants standing there every year in June (except this year, 2012, because I found 16 Himantoglossum on this track), unfortunately often inside the prickly blackberries and wild roses, so they are very difficult to photograph properly. Until this year this Megalochori track was also the only habitat where I found Himantoglossum. With some internet help, I have to admit. So this year was different. When I went up on the 10^th of June to ‘the corner’ above Sanatorio where I hoped to see the two Comptoglossum agiasense Karatzá (or Himantoglossum veraii Manning) species which are standing there, they had been eaten by goats. It is not so special that goats eat Himantoglossum because caprinum and also hircinum means ‘(with the scent of) goat’. So I suppose goats are especially attracted to those plants. Anyway, between three small rocks I discovered here on this corner one small Himantoglossum.

Himantoglossum caprinum, Sanatorio Agiasos. © JvL 10-6-12 #021
(Now 24cm high but with tall flowers: 72mm long, middle lobe of the lip 63mm long, side lobes 7.6mm, notch 45mm.)

Small, because normally these are big plants, reaching sometimes 80-100cm. But this one was small because the goats had eaten the complete top of it. But it was still flowering and had an unusual beautiful purple colour with dark blue accents; ‘normally’ it is more brownish-red. And this time it was not standing against a wall and not inside prickly bushes, so I took my chance. But which Himantoglossum has this colour?

Himantoglossum caprinum, Sanatorio Agiasos. © JvL 10-6-12 #093

RESEARCH: In 1980 SUNDERMANN mentioned 5 different Himantoglossum in his book: H. hircinum with ssp. hircinum, ssp. caprinum, ssp. calcaratum, ssp. adriaticum, ssp. affine and Himantoglossum formosum. The last one we can forget about because if it exists then only in the eastern Caucasus and south-eastern Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan).
Hircinum; in Europe, but I don’t see Greece or Turkey on his countries list.
Caprinum: yes, also Greece and northern Turkey.
Calcaratum: maybe also in Turkey.
Adriaticum: No, not in Greece or Turkey.
Affine: Peloponnese, western and southern Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Persia.

But: ‘those 5 subspecies (of hircinum) will be judged very differently and classified mostly as species, although they are often connected to each other through transitional forms, because all important diagnostic characteristics (length of the spur, length of the side lobes, length and split of the middle lobe and the colouring of the flowers) vary strongly.’ Okay, so perhaps we have H. caprinum and H. affine on Lesvos, but also some transitional forms… The difference between H. caprinum and H. affine:

© JvL 10-6-12 #195 H.affine Megalochori; short side lobes, tip barely cut, only a few dots on the wine red lip.

(ssp. affine) ’30-60cm high; very loose inflorescence, 10-30 flowers with a greenish white colour (with brown, but mostly without any red shade) and the plate of the lip without dots or patches; side lobes blunt triangular, very short (about 3 mm) or entirely absent; middle lobe short (20-40 cm), little turned over and at the tip barely cut (not more than 10 mm); spur 3-6 (8) mm long.’

© JvL 10-6-12 #378 H.caprinum Megalochori; long, hanging side lobes, tip long cut, more rounded lip with ‘fantasy’ spots, little bit more purplish red than affine.

(ssp. caprinum) ‘inflorescence (near) lax; flowers tinted red to intensive red shaded or only brownish green. Side lobes 5-20 mm, the multiple turned middle lobe 35-65 mm long, notched on the tip; with red (hairy) spots on the plate of the lip; spur 4-6 mm long.

Let’s see what KREUTZ (Turkey1998) found in Turkey: Ah, 3 different species: H. affine, H. caprinum and an H. montis-tauri. Let’s read his description of the lip of this montis-tauri: ‘Lip strongly three-lobed, slightly arched, olive green (rarely brownish green) with red papillae on the white area down from the base; middle lobe 40-70 mm long and about 20 mm split deeply, approximately 4 to 7 times as long as the two side lobes, not much turned over; the two side lobes approximately 7-10 mm long and 8 to 11 mm wide (triangular and very broad), on the edge wavy to indented), olive-green.’

© JvL 10-6-12 #313 H.montis-tauri Megalochori: longer lip dotted with lines, tip medium cut; long, wide side lobes, colour brownish.

Why Kreutz named this plant H.montis-tauri C.A.J. KREUTZ & W. LÜDERS 1997 instead of H. bolleanum (SIEHE) SCHLECHTER 1898 I don’t understand. In my opinion they are the same plants. The only thing he writes about this is: ‘The Aceras bolleana described by SIEHE (1898), which SCHLECHTER in 1918 placed in the gender Himantoglossum (SIEHE) SCHLECHTER as Himantoglossum bolleanum (SIEHE) SCHLECHTER, is to be categorized as Himantoglossum affine.’ Well, I also don’t think  Delforge and Baumann will agree…

Because the ‘chef’ himself (DELFORGE 2005) has already 7 species (no subspecies) in the Himantoglossum hircinum group in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. But there is not much to choose for Lesvos, only H. affine and H. bolleanum/H. montis-tauri. H. affine: Eastern sub-Mediterranean, centred on southern Anatolia and extending from the Peloponnese to Iran; H. bolleanum = syn. for H. montis-tauri Kreutz (Southern Anatolia, Lesvos and perhaps Israel); H. caprinum only in the Balkan and Anatolia. Delforge: ‘(H. bolleanum), a controversial taxon, hybridogenous*. Probably not yet stabilised, in sympatry* with H. affine but may have almost completely absorbed H. caprinum in southern Anatolia and on Lesvos. Forms intermediate between H. affine and H. caprinum are rather frequent in northern Anatolia.’

© JvL 10-6-2012 #021 H.caprinum Sanatorio corner: long hanging side lobes, tip of the lip split deeply, shorter, more rounded white middle part of the lip with more ‘fantasy’ papillae, the lip more purplish-red as H. affine.

BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (Europe e.a. 2006) have a very thorougly flower analysis with herbarium photographs on the genus Himantaglossum. 10 species in Europe and adjoining regions so that will include Lesvos: H. caprinum ssp. caprinum from the Balkans to the north of Turkey,  ssp. bolleanum from Lesbos and Turkey; H. affine ssp. affine from Lesvos through Turkey to Syria, Kurdistan and Iran.They also have some ‘new’ subspecies in their book but that has to do with their ego, look at their register for the authors of all those subspecies and you will find a big surprise, behind almost every subspecies: H. Baumann & R. Lorenz! Those guys are really name fetishists.

There are no members of the Himantoglossum hircinum group on Chios, Rhodes, Karpathos and Cyprus. For Crete KRETZSCHMAR & Eccarius (Crete & Dodekanensis 2004) listed a Himantoglossum samariense C.& A. Alibertis, but: ’Its status as a species is a point of controversy.’ Yeah, actually I don’t see a lot of difference with a ’normal’ H. affine.

KARATZÁ (Lesvos 2008): 3 Himantoglossum species (affine, caprinum & montis-tauri) and of course his X Comptoglossum agiasense I. Karatzas from ‘the corner’. All those species he found between Sanatorio Agiasos and Megalochori.

© JvL 10-6-12 #31: part of H.montis-tauri lip, Megalochori.

BOTTOM-LINE: So ‘my’ Himantoglossum at the Sanatorio corner is not a Himantoglossum affine and definitively not a Himantoglossum bolleanum/montis-tauri*. Although DELFORGE and KREUTZ are sceptical about the existence of H. caprinum on Lesvos (Kreutz: ‘Occurs supposedly also on Lesvos (GÖLZ & REINHARD 19989a; KREY, et al., 1989; BIEL 1998’, DELFORGE: ‘H. bolleanum may have almost completely absorbed H. caprinum in southern Anatolia and on Lesvos’), I do think they make a mistake here. Most Himantoglossum on the track above Megalochori are indeed hybrid forms between H. affine, H.caprinum and H. montis-tauri/bolleanum, but they are still recognizable as different species. But finding on Lesvos a green Himantoglossum montis-tauri/bolleanum or a real H. affine without dots or patches on the white part of the middle lobe is another story!
But ‘my’ strangely coloured Himantoglossum above Sanatorio is in my opinion definitely Himantoglossum caprinum. 

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 12-8-2012

In Memory of Herman Brood, 1946-2001.
‘Hot Shot’ Herman Brood, 1980:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Za3XHE4o8

* KREUTZ (Die Orchideen der Turkei, 1998) writes in his Himantoglossum montis-tauri COMMENTS about the existence of H. affine and H. caprinum on Lesvos: ’Whether the Turkish plants and the hybrid forms from Lesvos have to be considered as hybrids or as evolutionary divided groups (intermediates), stays controversial in the opinion of REINHARD (briefl. Mittg., 1997). Yet in the past already such various intermediates were described as species’.

* hybridogenous: a fertile taxon originating from a hybridisation event, usually ancient.

*sympatry: Species occurring in the same area or whose ranges overlap.

Habitat: Sanatorio Agiasos.

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorio Agiasos. © JvL 22-5-12 #070

Comperia comperiana (Steven 1829) Ascherson & Gräbner 1907, or Himantoglossum comperianum (Steven 1829) P.Delforge.
The Himantoglossum group. On Lesvos: H. robertianum, H. comperianum, H. affine, H. montis-tauri, H. caprinum & Comptoglossum agiasense of Himantoglossum veraii = H. comperianum x H. montis-tauri.

HUNTING: There are years when you can’t find her, and there are years when you can. This year (2012) you could, if you were there. Almost everywhere you looked between a thousand metres before Sanatorio and the top of Olympos, she was there. And ‘she’ is the very rare, very strange and very beautiful Komper’s Orchid. So there is hope. Because in my ‘early’ years as orchidologist I searched those forests up from Agiasos for years; in vain I have to admit. Until that day at the end of May 2009 when I stopped my car next to the road, got out, climbed just up the bank at the left and immediately saw her standing there, directly in front of me. Okay, it was an old girl, but she was still wearing her long hair with dignity.

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorio Agiasos. © JvL 31-5-09 #014

The next year I looked again on this spot but she wasn’t there anymore. A farmer, (yeah, who else) had laid a rubber waterline through this forest to water his pigs and by doing so cut a lot of trees and bushes. Frustrated I climbed down and searched the area for possible comperiana. And then, walking on the right side of the road, a few hundred meters back there she was again: standing between the bushes under a fence and in full flower.

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorio Agiasos. © JvL 19-5-10 #030

But again that was the only one that year. Last year I was luckier, or was this already the pattern of things to come? I stumbled over 3 comperiana on 3 different habitats, Megalochori, Spides and Sanatorio, all in full flower.

Himantoglossum comperianum, Megalochori. © JvL 26-5-11 #121

And this year I found 13 Himantoglossum comperianum or if you prefer, Comperia comperiana on 6 different habitats: on the parking place where I parked my car in 2009, (I really had to avoid a comperianum which was standing in the centre of the parking spot; when I stopped and got out of the car to look at her I saw that I had parked my car centimetres from an Ophrys reinholdii. Pfft…) When I came back to this spot (can you really call a parking place a habitat?) on the 22nd of May, she was knocked down. I tried to rescue her (put a stick in the ground and tied her up) but a week later she vanished completely. As was the Ophrys reinholdii. Fortunately one of my friends walked up to the spot where I found my first comperianum in 2009 (I told her about that first find) and there she was again, small but in full flower (#070). The other 4 habitats were: a side path of the road to Sanatorio (1); along the road between Sanatorio and ‘the corner’ (4); on the track to Olympos (4); and above Megalochori (2).

So next year there will be maybe 20 comperiana on Lesvos? O, and can ‘we’ please do something about those names comperianum and comperiana? For instance: one plant is a comperianum and two (or more) plants are comperiana? Or a big ‘male looking’ plant is a comperianum and a small ‘female’ a comperiana? Thank you P. Delforge.
But I think Delforge is right with putting Comperia comperiana into the Himantoglossum group as he also did with Barlia robertiana. (See my blogs 5 and 7). Though I have to admit that I liked those (old) names (now synonyms) much better…

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorium Agiasos, © JvL 22-5-2012 #082

RESEARCH: Well, there is not so much to research on Himantoglossum comperianum. The naming I already mentioned. Maybe the places besides Lesvos where they should be growing are interesting to look at.
SUNDERMANN (Europe 1980): ‘This plant (Comperia comperiana) belongs to the most extreme oddities in our area: Aegean islands (Samos, Lesvos), Turkey, Crimea, Lebanon, Persia, Kurdistan and Luristan’ (Central mountain region of West-Iran).
KREUTZ (Turkey 1998): ’Regrettably in Turkey this formerly widespread species is now in great danger because of the digging up of the tubers for the making of Salep*, overgrazing, and the agricultural use of the sites. Therefore you will find the most specimens only in old graveyards. But unfortunately also there already the plants got increasingly hacked away in the last years.’
KREUTZ (Rhodes & Karpathos 2002): ‘Recent findings of Comperia comperiana (on Rhodes) have not been confirmed for the last few years now. Probably the species was able to colonize Rhodes after the reforestation had been carried out by the Italian administration. From then on Comperia comperiana had its south-western boundary in the southern Aegean region and is very rare at its habitat boundary. Comperia comperiana can therefore be classified as being extinct on Rhodes.’
KREUTZ (Cyprus 2004). No Comperia comperiana or Himantoglossum comperianum on Cyprus.
KRETZSCHMAR & Eccarius (Crete & Dodekanensis 2004): ’(Comperia comperiana) has not been observed on Rhodes with any certainty for several years.’ Nor on Crete or on Karpathos.
DELFORGE (Europe e.a. 2005): ‘(Himantoglossum comperianum) centred on Southern Anatolia: west to the Aegean (Lesvos, Samos, Kos, Rhodes), north to the Crimea, south to Lebanon and east to Iranian Kurdistan. Very local and very rare, greatly threatened in Turkey by its harvesting for salep*.’
BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (Europe e.a. 2006): ’(Comperia comperiana) Aegean islands (Lesvos, Rhodes), Iraq, Crimea, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon.
TAYLOR (Chios 2012): A single Himantoglossum comperianum was found on Chios in May 2009 and it appeared again in 2010, but in 2011 there was no sign of the plant anymore.
KARATZÁ (Lesvos 2008): Sanatorium Agiasos, the whole Olympus region, Megalochori and Plomari.

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorio Agiasos, © JvL 22-5-2012 #091

BOTTOM-LINE: It will be not easy to mix up this typical and big plant with a small Orchis, a big Ophrys or even with the other Himantoglossum on the island. Only with the special mix from ‘on the corner’, the hybrid between H. comperianum x H. montis-tauri = Comptoglossum agiasense Karatzá 2004 or Himantoglossum veraii (Manning) you have to look more carefully but no doubt you will definitely see the differences.
So comperiana are not around on the Greek mainland, nor on Crete, nor on Karpathos. She is extinct on Rhodes and Kos. But on Samos there is this year one new find, on 14-5-12. On Chios there was one found in 2009 and again in 2010, but in 2011 there was no sign of the plant anymore. So then it is even more special that you still can see ‘her’ standing there, ‘everywhere’ above Agiasos. At least this year…

* Salep or salepi: In Turkey (as it was once in parts of Europe) the making of Salep, a kind of hot ‘sharkfin soup’ made of milk, cinnamon and the tubers of orchids (hence the name: Orchis means testicles in Greek), is the most important cause of the perishing of large numbers of orchid species and even complete genera. Between 1,000 and 4,000 tubers are needed to produce 1 kg of Salep, so between 500 and 2000 orchids have to be ‘slaughtered’ for maybe 10 or 20 cups of this drink.
To my surprise, no to my bewilderment, I saw tens of salepi handcarts (old ice-cream carts) appearing in the centre of Athens last winter, mostly pushed by refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. I hope that this will not be a new trend in the Greek crisis:
in Europe it is forbidden to dig out orchids…

Himantoglossum comperianum, Sanatorium road, Agiasos, © JvL 13-5-12 #037

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 19-7-2012.

The Beatles: ‘I saw her standing there’ (1963):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtXrbGR06nE&nohtml5=False
In Memory of George Harrison (1943-2001) & John Lennon (1940-1980)

Habitat: chestnut forest above Agiasos.

Platanthera holmboei, chestnut forest © JvL 13-05-2012 #067

Platanthera holmboei H.Lindberg fil. 1942. On Levos: only Platanthera holmboei?

HUNTING: Every late spring, in early summer and in the autumn I go out hunting in the beautiful Chestnut forest above Agiasos and Sanatorio. In autumn I hunt chestnuts there (other people shoot wild boar and deer then), and in April, May and June, I photograph orchids in those surprisingly cool woods here just under the Olympos mountain peak. But there are not a lot of orchids to hunt in this chestnut forest; many years I just came back with 4 Orchids: Orchis morio, provincialis & tridentata and Cephalanthera longifolia. Until, one hot day in the beginning of May last year, I parked my car in the shadow under a huge chestnut tree, stepped out and saw some Wild Peony (Paeonia mascula) shimmering between the trees high on the very steep hill in front of me. I went up to photograph them (yes, I’m not only doing orchids, peonies flower for just one week in the season, and I’m always fascinated by these big flowers), and climbed further up to the top of the hill (770m) to enjoy the view over the forest, the Olympos and Agiasos. Next to the field was an old stone wall, the barrier between the grassy field where the Peonies were growing and the chestnut forest. A piece of this wall was collapsed so I took a look in the forest, walked a few metres, stopped to let my eyes get used to the darkness, put my rucksack on the ground; almost on top of 2 small green Platanthera holmboei between the green ferns.

Platanthera holmboei, chestnut forest © JvL 26-05-2011 #066

Until that moment I had never found a Platanthera in the ‘wild’. I knew that they were growing in this chestnut forest (because Karatzá mentioned this in his book and Manning on his website) but I had never found them! Besides the darkness, there is here, high up in the mountains between 2 and 6 in the afternoon, no sound to be heard, except of course the rustling of the chestnut leaves. So my heart stood still (for a moment) when next to me a big tortoise was composedly walking up the hill, eating the flowers in front of him. I didn’t dare to move my feet anymore in fear of stepping on other Platanthera or on this tortoise and looked around. And I mean you really have to look very, very hard to see these small green Platanthera in this forest. But after a while I saw 4 more plants standing on the left of me, and two more a few metres uphill. But unfortunately not one of them was yet flowering, so I took my photographs and walked down. And of course I decided to come back next week.

Platanthera holmboei, chestnut forest © JvL 20-05-2011 #092

RESEARCH: But first let’s look which Platanthera is growing where: In 1980 SUNDERMANN followed SCHLECHTER (1928) who made 4 groups of Platanthera: bifolia (W- and E-Europe, N-Africa, N-Turkey, Russia, Greece – Asia up to the Himalaya and E-Siberia;
chlorantha (W- and E-Europe, N-Africa, Turkey, Russia, N-Greece – M- & E-Asia;
oligantha (N-Sweden, N-Finland, N-Russia, Siberia);
hyberborea (Island, Greenland, N-America);
micrantha/azorica (Azores). Do I count 5 groups? Yes I do!
This means that in principle there could be two Platanthera species growing on Lesvos(N-E-Greece): bifolia and chlorantha. The difference between bifolia and chlorantha is the position of the housings of the pollinia (the pollen bundle: the only two yellow parts of the flower): bifolia parallel and close to each other, chlorantha wider separated on the base and pollinia divergent (forming an open roof). So my Platanthera are certainly not P. bifolia. Under P. chlorantha Sundermann described two subspecies: ssp. chlorantha and ssp. algeriensis (Algeria and Morocco). But: ‘the difference (ssp. algeriensis) compared to chlorantha is insignificant, all the more because the distinguishing marks (green flowers, backwards curved lip, swollen spur and long bracts) also appear from time to time on chlorantha, or, for example on the from Cyprus described P. holmboei Lindberg 1942, which I place under chlorantha’.
So according to SUNDERMANN there was no P. holmboei, only P. chlorantha.

Let’s go to Turkey with KREUTZ (1998). He described three Platanthera species in Turkey: bifolia, chlorantha and holmboei. Platanthera holmboei: ‘Eastern Mediterranean, Lesbos,Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, W-Syria and Cyprus. For a long time it was thought that this species was endemic to Cyprus. Current reports submit Israel (KREUTZ 1993a), Cyprus (MORSCHEK 1996), Lesbos (BIEL 1998) and Turkey (KREUTZ 1998)’.
But this sentence confuses me still: ’Platanthera holmboei, in those days still Platanthera chlorantha, was found for the first time on Cyprus by KOTSCHY in 1859 (UNGER, et al., 1865). How’s that? Platanthera chlorantha was for the first time described in Switzerland by Reichenbach in 1827-28 I thought and Platanthera holmboei in Cyprus by H. Lindberg in 1942. So is there actually a difference between finding and describing, Kreutz?

KREUTZ, six years later (2004) in ‘The Orchids of Cyprus’ about Platanthera holmboei: ’Described from Cyprus by Lindberg in 1946 (?), this species has its main distribution area in the Troodos mountains and makes an abundant appearance in June, especially on the southern slopes. WOOD (1985) also reports P. chlorantha for Cyprus.
Kreutz: ‘There are indeed plants at the lower altitudes which are difficult to differentiate from P. chlorantha. There are plants at lower altitudes in Turkey, e.g. at Uludag near Bursa, which share characteristics both of P. chlorantha and also P. holmboei (KREUTZ 1998). All reports for the genus Platanthera have been placed in this book under P. holmboei, as the probably findings of P. chlorantha certainly involve lighter coloured specimens of P. holmboei. P. holmboei resembles P. chlorantha, but can be distinguished from this species by a lax inflorescence, by distinctly smaller light to dark green flowers and by the thread-like, not clubbed, horizontally directed spur.’

BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (2006): ‘P. holmboei is an east-Mediterranean plant: Lesbos, SW- & S-Turkey, Cyprus, NW-Syria, maybe Lebanon, N-Israel’. Difference between P. holmboei and chlorantha: ‘P. chlorantha grows higher, has bigger and lighter coloured flowers, spur is longer.’

Okay, so Lesvos is the only place or island in Greece where Platanthera is growing? Maybe, because TAYLOR (2012) didn’t find Plantanthera on Chios, KRETZSCHMAR & Eccarius (2004) didn’t find Platanthera on Crete & the Dodecanese, nor did KREUTZ (2002) on Rhodes and Karpathos.

And DELFORGE (Europe e.a 2005): ‘(P. holmboei) distribution: Eastern Mediterranean, reported from the coastal mountains from southern Anatolia south to Israel; may reach the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean. Rare and local.
’O, and for the spur: ’cylindrical, little or not at all flattened at tip.’ ‘(P. chlorantha) distribution Mediterranean: north to the coast of central Norway, south to Sicily. South-Eastern and south-Western limits poorly known as a result of confusion with neighbouring taxa. Widespread but uncommon.’

KARATZÁ (Lesvos 2008) found only Platanthera holmboei, and also between Agiasos and Megalochori.

Platanthera holmboei, chestnut forest © JvL 26-05-2011 #008

BOTTOM-LINE: And I came back to the Chestnut forest two more times in May: once on the 20^th and again on the 26^th of June. On that day we had to run for our lives because lightning suddenly struck around us. In those dark woods we hadn’t see the dark blue sky coming; the thunderstorm came very quickly over the top of the hill. Running (or almost falling) down I also had to jump high when I almost stepped on a poisonous Viper who was also sliding down to safety.
But I came back in June to see if there were maybe other interesting orchids around on this spot. And then I photographed this plant:

Platanthera chlorantha, chestnut forest © JvL 12-06-2011 #278

Is this still P. Holmboei? I don’t think so. I think this is Platanthera chlorantha (Custer) Reichenbach 1827. The difference between P. holmboei and P. chlorantha is, apart from the later flowering time of chlorantha (3 weeks later), the more whitish colour, the more lax inflorescence, the small tongue like lip which is weakly to strongly turned backwards and which gets smaller down to the lip point, and the thread-like (not clubbed) horizontally directed spur. Okay, the spur I don’t know, but the rest points in the direction of chlorantha. However, according to the experts there is no Platanthera chlorantha on Lesvos. Again I have to quote KREUTZ (2004) in ‘The Orchids of Cyprus’: ‘there are indeed -P. holmboei- plants at lower altitudes in Cyprus and Turkey which are difficult to differentiate from P. chlorantha but these are probably lighter coloured specimens of P. holmboei.’ Well, this habitat is not on a low altitude but on 770m, the first Platanthera flowering here on this habitat (8-5-2011, 20-5-2011, 2-5-2012 & 13-05-2012) is P. holmboei, later (26-5-2011) accompanied by P. chlorantha, and on 12-6-2011 only Platanthera chlorantha I think. And this is almost one-and-a-half months later than the first holmboei.
So the Platanthera family consists of c. 85 defined species in the world, to be found in Europe, Asia and America. In Europe there are between 6 and 8 species, in Greece two; Platanthera holmboei and Platanthera chlorantha. And where are those two? Only on Lesvos, in just ‘a forest’.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 11-7-2012

The Cure: ‘A Forest’ 1980.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxCqsr6l07c&feature=watch_response

‘A Forest’: The Cure live in Amsterdam (Jaap Edenhal) 17-11-1980:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4dCYNcU-k

Habitat: Eftalou.

Anacamptis pyramidalis, Eftalou © JvL 8-05-10 #079

Anacamptis pyramidalis (L.) L.C.M. Richard (De Orchid. Eur.) 1753.

HABITAT: In Blog 11 I wrote about Anacamptis pyramidalis: ‘An easy Orchid, no groups around, no complications about names whatsoever, just simply red, pink and white flowers.’ And then I found Ophrys phrygia in Eftalou (see Blog 11: Oh Yes, It Is!’ http://www.janvanlent.com/blog/?p=1012). So now back to the Pyramidal Orchid. Anacamptis pyramidalis is not a difficult to identify orchid, it’s flowering everywhere on Lesvos between the end of April and the beginning of June. But I also already found (between Vatera and Nifida) some small ‘brachystachys’ species at the end of March. The genus Anacamptis is close to Orchis but is distinguished by the 2 ridges at the base of the lip and the single retinacle (viscidium) bearing both pollinia.

Anacamptis pyramidalis ‘nominate form’, Eftalou, © JvL 11-05-12 #032

The colours of the flowers are almost never completely identical: red (sometimes in the south near Megalochori), pink (everywhere on the island) and white (Eftalou, Agiasos, Alifantá). And in Eftalou I found also species with a pink lip and white sepals & petals, so a bicolour version! And not only the colour but also the form of the inflorescence has some differences: round, pyramid or conical. This has often to do with the age of the plant (young: round, middle age: pyramid, older: conical) but there also some described variations of Anacamptis in literature (and in nature) which  always have these characteristics. And last but not least: I found species with a height from 10 centimetres but also from 50 centimetres! So let’s see if I perhaps found in Eftalou a previously undescribed variation.

Anacamptis pyramidalis var. albiflora, Eftalou, © JvL 8-05-10 #050

RESEARCH: Let’s start with ‘the old master’ SUNDERMANN (1980). He has 2 variations: var. albiflora with white flowers and var. tanayensis with dark purple flowers growing in the Alps between 1200 and 1900 meter. Well, Eftalou is certainly not in the Alps and yes, we’ve got here a lot of var. albiflora.
KREUTZ (1998) found in Turkey also a few variations: Anacamptis pyramidalis var. brachystachys (D’Urville) Boissier, with smaller, light coloured flowers and a lax inflorescence and plants which look similar to Anacamptis pyramidalis var. tanayensis Chevenard. Ah, yes similar, because the Alps are not in Turkey… And var. albiflora is also present in Turkey. And let’s see which variations he (KREUTZ 2002) found on Rhodes and Karpathos: ‘Flower coloration of Anacamptis on Rhodes and Karpathos is mainly pink. One can also find a surprising number of white-coloured specimens, as well as all colour variations from yellowish-white to violet-red.’ But Kreutz didn’t give names to those variations in this book.
And in his Cyprus book (KREUTZ 2004) he wrote: ‘Shape and flower colour of the species are variable on Cyrus. One can find plants with pure white, light or deep pink flowers. There are also small and compact plants, where the flowers have fairly wide middle lobes, and slender, relatively tall specimens with narrower middle lobes.’
So there is not much difference between the pyramidalis from Cyprus and from Lesvos I thought. But then he continues: ‘The plants in the Mediterranean region (thus also on Cyprus) are often separated from the nominate species as Anacamptis pyramidalis var. brachystachys (D’Urville) Boissier or as Anacamptis pyramidalis var. urvilleana (Sommier et Gatto) Schlechter. Both varieties differ from the nominate form by a more compact appearance, paler and smaller flowers and a lax inflorescence.  Anacamptis pyramidalis var. urvilleana was described from Malta, and is probably identical to the variety brachystachys. Remarkably, the nominate form also occurs on Malta, but flowers three weeks later than the variety urvilleana. The occurrence of two Anacamptis pyramidalis taxa, which are so dissimilar in appearance, flower shape and flowering time, is so far unknown elsewhere in the southern Mediterranean.’

Earliest: ‘brachystachys’ 27-3-10 #070, ‘nominate’ pyramidalis: 11-5-12 #032, latest:
‘X Anacamptorchis’ Megalochori 3-6-11 #026, © JvL A.pyramidalis on Lesvos.

I’m glad that he wrote ‘southern Mediterranean’ because here in the ‘northern Mediterranean’ in Lesvos, we’ve also got two or more different taxa ‘dissimilar in appearance, flower shape and flowering time’!
DELFORGE (2005): ’(Anacamptis pyramidalis) varies in size, shape of inflorescence and degree of indentation and colour of lip. Several variants have been named which, on account of numerous intergrades, probably have little evolutionary significance.’
But then he described four variations: ‘‘urvilleana’: rather early, with small pale flowers (Malta, Crete, Karpathos); probably inseparable from ‘brachystachys’: inflorescence near globular, rather lax, flowers pale (Mediterranean region, also Portugal); ‘tanayensis’: inflorescence dense, flowers bright red, median lobe of lip prominent, broad and protuberant, spur rather short, frequent above 1300m in the Alps. ‘sanguinea’: a red-flowered morph from Ireland.’
And Delforge has also his own isolated variation: Anacamptis pyramidalis var. nivea P.DELFORGE. It is a snow-white variation from Greece (Etolia-Akarnania) with reduced basal ridges and a thin, short spur.
Who is next? BAUMANN, KÜNKELE, LORENZ (2006). They also have var. tanayensis, small flowers, dark red, short spur (Swiss) and var. urvilleana, elegant, light coloured, early flowering. (South Mediterranean, Cyclades, Malta).
On Chios A. pyramidalis is almost growing everywhere, but I see only the ‘normal’ nominate form. (TAYLOR, Chios 2012).
Even KRETZSCHMAR/ ECCARIUS/ DIETICH: The Orchid Genera Anacamptis, Orchis, Neotinea. (2007) don’t have exceptional new information, at least not with this genus. I even don’t have to change its name…
And KARATZÁ (2008) has for Lesvos besides the normal Anacamptis pyramidalis and Anacamptis pyramidalis var. albiflora (which he also calls: ‘nivea’ P.DELFORGE) an
X Anacamptorchis lesbiensis B.BIEL. This is a hybrid between Anacamptis pyramidalis and Orchis sancta. He described this species from Kratigos and Ag.Marina in the south of Lesvos, behind Mytilini and the airport. I’m wondering if a hybrid I found in Plakes (between Vatera and Nifida on the coast) is the same species. It looks like a hybrid between Anacamptis and Orchis tridentata, but that cannot be true I know now (because A. pyramidalis has 36, Anacamptis (was Orchis) tridentata 42 chromosomes. But if you compare the sepals & petals in the middle photograph with the sepals & petals of the far right photograph, you might think so.

X Anacamptorchis lesbiensis, Plakes, © JvL 10-05-09 #060

Anacamptis pyramidalis; X Anacamptorchis lesbiensis; Anacamptis sancta.

Another variation I found in the neighbourhood of Sanatorio (Agiasos): It looks like a hybrid between Anacamptis pyramidalis and Platanthera holmboei. In literature there is only one such hybrid described: X Anacamptiplatanthera payotti Fournier 1928 or Nothogenus Anacamptiplatanthera (Anacamptis x Platanthera) P.Fourn. 1928. This is (as the name already shows) a hybrid between Anacamptis pyramidalis and Platanthera bifolia. We don’t have (as far as I know) Platanthera bifolia on Lesvos, but we have Platanthera holmboei and chlorantha!

X Anacamptiplatanthera? © JvL 31-05-2009 #058 Sanatorio.

Anacamptis pyramidalis var. albiflora, Sanatorio 31-05-2009; X Anacamptiplatanthera?, Sanatorio 31-05-2009; Platanthera holmboei, chestnut forest above Sanatorio, 26-05-2011 #013

BOTTOM LINE: Maybe one of the interesting aspects of Anacamptis is not just the variants but also the hybrids with other orchid members. Delforge in his ‘notes’ about Anacamptis: ‘Hybridises very rarely with a few species of Orchis (X Anacamptorchis), extremely rarely with Serapias and Gymnadenia, and doubtfully with Dactylorhiza and Platanthera’…
Let’s summarize which Anacamptis I found on Lesvos: First of course the ‘nominate form’ Anacamptis pyramidalis and second the white variation ‘albiflora’. Then from the other Anacamptis variations ‘brachystachys’ = ‘urvilleana’: - inflorescence near globular, rather lax, flowers pale (see earliest: 27-3-10 #070).
There are 15 different X Anacamptorchis described on the internet, so on Lesvos we have for sure X Anacamptorchis lesbiensis B.Biel (described from Lesvos) but maybe also a hybrid between Anacamptis pyramidalis and Orchis morio (ssp.picta) =
X Anacamptorchis laniccae.
But the most beautiful Pyramidal Orchid was the bicoloured version I found in Eftalou this year: Anacamptis pyramidalis var. bicolour. So far I couldn’t find a bicoloured version in literature and one the internet, and if I really wanted to put my hand (name) in the Hornets Nest I should write: Anacamptis pyramidalis var. bicolor van Lent 2012…

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 22-6-2012.
Revision: 9-8-2013.
Revision: 20-5-2014

Radiohead: ‘Pyramid song’ (movie: Der Himmel über Berlin.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee05p1I464s

Anacamptis pyramidalis var. bicolor, Eftalou, © JvL 11-05-12 #028 (4)

Habitat: Eftalou.

Ophrys phrygia, Eftalou. © JvL 20-05-2012 #128

Ophrys phrygia H. Fleischmann & Bornmüller 1923.
The oestrifera group, on Lesvos most likely:
(short side horns): Ophrys dodekanensis, O.ceto, O.bremifera,
O. orphanidea, O.masticorum & O.minutula,
(long side horns): O.cornutula, O.oestrifera & O.phrygia.

HUNTING: After 3 weeks looking at and rewriting my blog about the oestrifera group, I had enough of this group, so I went up here in Eftalou to do my final shooting on Anacamptis pyramidalis, which have been growing here in abundance since the beginning of April. An easy Orchid, no groups around, no complications about names whatsoever, just simply red, pink and white flowers. So I went around on the Eftalou fields making tens of photographs as I thought: ‘before the sun sets, have a quick look at the field where the Himantoglossum robertianum was flowering one month ago’. (Blog 6). I walked up to this huge plant, (still around but of course no flowers anymore) and stumbled over a high, slender Ophrys with 5 big flowers with very long horns. Again I was astonished: In the 9 years I have been crossing this field I never saw one Ophrys, let alone one Ophrys from the oestrifera group in this olive grove, or even an oestrifera member in the whole North of Lesvos! But the light was quickly fading away so only a few photographs were the catch, like the one above. I didn’t have my measuring device with me, but I could see that my catch was more than 50cm high and had very long horns. And it was not one plant but three close to each other! A very small plant with 2 flowers, a medium plant with 2 flowers and the big one with 4 flowers and one flower opening.

Ophrys phrygia, Eftalou. © JvL 21-05-2012 #034

The next day I went straight back to this olive grove to make more photographs of this Ophrysand when I came into the field I almost stumbled over a few oestrifera group species, the same as the day before but smaller. While taking their pictures and measuring their sizes I saw that they were exactly similar to the ‘big’ one from yesterday, which was fortunately still standing there. Fortunately because there is group of horses who use this olive grove for drinking (there is a small stream on the side), grazing and galloping. I walked around in this olive grove but I didn’t have to go far: a few metres away I discovered 10 more plants, all the same species, some small, some medium, some very big. And now I had my measurement tool with me so here are the votes for the biggest Ophrys: 51 cm high; lip 13×8.5mm; horn inside 10mm, outside 16mm; petal 4.2mm long; sepal 14.9×6.6mm. And now for the main question: what is it?

Ophrys phrygia, Eftalou. © JvL 21-05-2012 #024

RESEARCH: Until now I thought there were 2, maybe 3 long horned oestrifera members on the island: O.cornutula (small 6-9mm lip and earlier flowering, mid March-mid April); O. oestrifera (medium lip of 10mm, very long horns, which are hairy outside and inside until the base, small petals, mid April-mid May) and perhaps O. phrygia (round, globular lip of 10-15mm, long horns, turned outside, flowering between the beginning of May until the middle of July). Quick conclusion: this has to be Ophrys phrygia.

ANTONOPOULOS (2008) about Ophrys phrygia: ‘Another Turkish species which has only recently been reported in Greece, more specifically on Chios (by Hirth & Spaeth, 1998). The main characteristics are its late flowering (it normally flowers on Chios at the beginning of May) and the very characteristic lip which is globular at the base and very wide in relation to the stigmatic cavity. The bracts are also long and the length of the lip ranges between 1 and 1.5cm. This is often a tall plant, its stem sometimes reaching a height of 60 (90) cm. To date, it has only been found in a few parts of Chios.’

A Turkish species? So let’s look to KREUTZ (1998) ‘Die Orchideen der Türkei’. His section of Ophrys phrygiagoes deeply into the ‘Problematik’ of this species: ‘After the description of Ophrys phrygia as a small growing plant with small, loosely arranged flowers (from the Turkish province Konya, in south-central Anatolia) by H.Fleischmann & Bornmüller in 1923, this Ophrys for a long time fell into oblivion, and only in 1982 did BAUMANN (1982b) again focus attention on this orchid. In 1982 this species was still treated by BAUMANN & KÜNKELE (1982a) as a synonym of Ophrys oestrifera subsp. bremifera (Ophrys bremifera). But in the same year BAUMANN & KÜNKELE (1982b) recognized and described Ophrys phrygia as an autonomous species and connected it to the Ophrys phrygia described by H.Fleischmann & Bornmüller. They then attached the name Ophrys phrygia to a very tall, loose- and large-flowering species widespread in South andEast Anatolia. Today BAUMANN’s interpretation of Ophrys phrygia is generally adopted.’
But why did the same BAUMANN (in BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ, 2006) suddenly rename Ophrys phrygia 23 years later as Ophrys oestrifera subsp. phrygia (H.Fleischm. & Bornm.) H.Baumann & R.Lorenz 2005? But maybe he just wants his name behind every orchid in Europe.
But in short, yes, this is still ‘my’ Eftalou oestrifera member.

Ophrys phrygia, Eftalou. © JvL 21-05-2012 #036

But to be really sure in claiming this Ophrys for Lesvos I read DELFORGE’s (2005) description of Ophrys phrygia carefully, but to quote his description completely I need a few pages more. Important: ‘speculum complex, extensive, sometimes very fragmented, bluish-grey to reddish, glossy, broadly edged yellowish, forming a bilobed shield surrounding the reddish-brown basal field, extended by an often incomplete central ocellus (eye, jvl), 2 parallel lines and/or 2 isolated spots above the appendage as well as 2-4 (-6) plus minus regular small lateral ocelli;’ And also all the rest of the description and dimensions are right. So this is Ophrys phrygia.

And Karatzá (2008), did he find Ophrys phrygia on Lesvos? Yes. On a few different habitats, all in the south of Lesvos: Thermí, Loutrá, Mória, Alifantá, Gkantanás and Mt. Koúrteri. But he did not mention a date and neither did he put a date on his photographs. When did you find them Karatzá, recently or long ago?

BOTTOM LINE: Until the discovery of Ophrys phrygia on Chios (Hirth & Spaeth, 1997) it was thought to be an endemic Turkish species, flowering on some habitats from around Izmir to East-Anatolia (KREUTZ 1998). DELFORGE in 2005: ‘Distribution: Rather poorly known due to confusion with related taxa. Southern Anatolia, principally the Antalya region, east to the Iraqi frontier. In the west, the rare reports from the Aegean islands are doubtful. Local and rather rare’. So until this new discovery in Eftalou nobody (I mean: no orchidologist) believed that Ophrys phrygia was still around on Lesvos. But: Oh yes, It Is!

Ophrys phrygia, Eftalou. © JvL 21-05-2012 #061

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 25-5-2012.  

The Beatles: ’Yes, it is’:1965
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4oeoGhW0gE

Habitat: above Liota.

Ophrys masticorum with long horns, Liota, © JvL 21-04-2012 #355.

The oestrifera group, on Lesvos most likely:
(short side horns): Ophrys dodekanensis, O.ceto, O.bremifera,
Ophrys orphanidea Saliaris & P. Delforge 2007 , Ophrys masticorum P. Delforge & Saliaris 2007 & Ophrys minutula Gölz & H.R. Reinhard 1989;
(long side horns): O.cornutula, O.oestrifera & O.phrygia.

HABITAT (Continued from Blog 9): So here I am, on a path high above Liota and Gavathas, walking to the end of the track to look for a place to turn my car, as I saw on the sides and also in the middle of the road tens of species from the oestrifera group. When I had a closer look I was astonished and I decided that almost the whole oestrifera group was present here, including the long horned Ophrys oestrifera and cornutula, the very small Ophrys minutula and maybe a late Ophrys dodekanensis. Or was this the new (Chios) orphan from Saliaris and Delforge: Ophrys orphanidea?

3 short/medium horned Ophrys oestrifera group members, Liota, © JvL 21-04-2012,
Ophrys minutula #247, maybe Ophrys orphanidea #319, Ophrys masticorum #349.

The whole of the oestrifera group is already in the final stage of flowering on Lesvos and I still didn’t ‘do’ Ophrys dodekanensis, the first of this group to flower in March and the beginning of April. This oestrifera group is actually a pain in the ass because they are very tiny: you have to lay down with your nose on the ground to discover, identify and photograph them. And no help from the books and the web here because most orchidologists already decided for Lesvos: no Ophrys dodekanensis, but also no ceto, no cornutula, no oestrifera, no bremifera and no phrygia… only Ophrys minutula and maybe the two ‘new’ Ophrys from Delforge & Saliaris Ophrys orphanidea and Ophrys masticorum.

So, only one, maybe three species of this group are flowering on Lesvos? But if I compare the species I found today on this spot above Liota, I get a completely different picture. And comparing is one thing; distinguishing them from each other, another. If you think: ‘Yes, I see the difference’, you find another species with the wrong arms but with the characteristics of an earlier or later species. Or at the wrong time and the wrong place… The difference between the members of the oestrifera family is not only the flowering time (because this can vary one month due to winter/spring conditions), but also the length of the side horns, the colour and form of the face (stigmatic cavity) and the pseudo-eyes, the colour, length and form of the sepals and petals and the shape and length of the lip. But let’s see what  we have here, on the 21^st of April above Liota.

Long horned Ophrys oestrifera group members, Liota,
© JvL 21-04-2012 #213, #217, #245, #299, #339.

RESEARCH: On the two ‘new’ species Ophrys orphanidea and masticorum there is not so much to research in my books because only TAYLOR (Chios 2012) and ANTONOPOULOS (2009) have photographs from Chios and described them. Antonopoulos -Ophrys orphanidea- : ‘A plant of little height, with a thin inflorescence. The sepals (the wings) are large in comparison to the lip, which has a length of 6-9mm and is characteristically rounded to globose at the distal edge. The stigmatic cavity is large and dark-coloured in contrast to that of Ophrys dodekanensis.’
TAYLOR (Chios 2012): -Ophrys orphanidea- : ‘Described as a new species. These plants had previously been indentified as O.bremifera, oestrifera, cerastes or scolopax. Widely distributed and frequent in western and southern Chios. -Ophrys masticorum- : ‘Described as a new species (see above). ‘This species seems to tolerate hot dry habitats, exhibiting a large range of plant sizes, being very small in such situation and much larger and robust for example at the type locality in Pyrgi.’

On the internet I get more information and photographs. On John & Gerry’s Orchids of Britain and Europe (www.orchidsofbritainandeurope.co.uk): ‘O. masticorum is the species that is most likely to be confused with O. orphanidea and for good reason – it is very similar! The sepals on the former tend to be larger and the dorsal sepal more strongly inclined forward. The body of O. orphanidea is fuller and the speculum more complex.

Ophrys orphanidea? Liota. © JvL 21-04-2012 #319

If you go to the website of JAMES MAST DE MAEGHT: (www.ophrys-genus.be), you get a lot of information and photographs of every oestrifera species ever found including Ophrys orphanidea and Ophrys masticorum (but also an Ophrys Sappho! from Lesvos d.d. 2010.)

Ophrys masticorum with short horns? Liota, © JvL 21-04-2012 #349 

John & Gerry’s Orchids of Britain and Europe: ’Ophrys masticorum can be variable but obligingly demonstrates three key features, which in combination, point fairly conclusively to its identity. 1:- Large sepals; 2:- Dorsal sepal strongly inclined forward in a very similar way to O. lapethica; 3:- The lip slopes sharply down and in from a waisted middle lobe.’
ANTONOPOULOS (2009) description of Ophrys masticorum: ‘A slender but tall plant with numerous (5-15) flowers in a thin inflorescence, with a characteristically long ovary. The sepals are long and the dorsal sepal almost always curving over the connective. The lip is small in relation to the sepals, with a length of 7.5 – 10.5 mm and exhibits a strong, downwards curvature.’

So let’s do a real Lesvian species (Ophrys minutula, for the first time described as endemic from Lesvos by Gölz & Reinhard in 1989, but nowadays present in almost the whole Eastern Aegean region).

Ophrys minutula, Liota. © JvL 21-04-2012 #247

ANTONOPOULOS (2009) about Ophrys minutula: ‘Its main characteristics are the sepals which turn strongly backwards, the late flowering time*, and the length of the lip which is particularly small, i.e. 6.5-9mm…., and the very small length of the lateral lobes (the horns, JvL), from 1 to 3 mm…’

In 1980 there was not yet an oestrifera group in Orchid land. SUNDERMANN described a fuciflora group – after Ophrys fuciflora Moench 1802 – with Ophrys fuciflora ssp. scolopax (with 2-5 mm short horns) and Ophrys fuciflora ssp. cornuta (with 6-12 mm long horns). Later on those two subspecies became the roots of the oestrifera group.

Already in 1998 KREUTZ didn’t use the names Ophrys fuciflora, Ophrys scolopax or Ophrys scolopax ssp. scolopax, the accepted name for this plant in IPNI* and The Plant List* anymore. He described Ophrys oestrifera (very long horns, around along the whole Turkish coast), O. bremifera (small side horns, in Turkey from the Aegean region (Çesme) down to the Western Mediterranean region) and O. minutula, (short to middle long horns, only on the peninsula Çesme across from Chios). Well, maybe a trip along the coast to Assos (Behram) or Babakale above Lesvos should probably help to find more Ophrys minutula in Turkey.

Ophrys masticorum with long horns? Liota, © JvL 21-04-2012 #357. Bye!

BOTTOM-LINE: Today on the 16^th of May, after 3 weeks of staring and comparing, reading and rewriting I still can’t say for sure that those two ‘new’ members of the oestrifera group, here up from Liota, are definitively Ophrys orphanidea and masticorum. But on Ophrys minutula I am pretty sure, because I have this species already for years in my archive, and also from a lot of different habitats. And the ‘long horned’ members from this habitat above Liota, Ophrys cornutula and oestrifera, have to wait a year or so for my new attempt to re-photograph the Lesvian horsefly history…

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 16-5-2012.

Hot stuff: Donna Summer (1979).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPlV2dzXWCw

*IPNI - The International Plant Names Index (www.ipni.org) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and lycophytes. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names.

*The Plant List (www.theplantlist.org) provides the Accepted Latin name for most species, with links to all Synonyms by which that species has been known. It also includes Unresolved names for which the contributing data sources did not contain sufficient evidence to decide (by the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. JvL) whether they were Accepted or Synonyms. On the Board of the Trustees are for instance H.A.Pedersen & N.Faurholdt, maybe the most ‘conservative’ orchidologists at the moment…

So no ‘official’: Ophrys orphanidea Saliaris & P.Delforge 2007, because that is an unresolved name according to ‘The Plant List’, it is a synonym for the IPNI Accepted name: Ophrys scolopax subsp. scolopax.

And no ‘official’: Ophrys masticorum P.Delforge & Saliaris 2007, because that is also an unresolved name, it is a synonym for the IPNI Accepted name: Ophrys scolopax subsp. cornuta (Steven) E. G. Camus 1908.

And also no ‘official’: Ophrys minutula Gölz & H. R. Reinhard 1989, because that is a synonym of Ophrys scolopax ssp. minutula (Gölz & H.R.Reinhard) Biel.

And yes, there is also an ‘accepted’ name for Ophrys minutula: Ophrys scolopax var. minutula (Gölz & H. R. Reinhard) H. A. Pedersen & Faurholdt…

Habitat: above Liota/Lygeri and below Andissa.

Habitat above Liota and Gavathas. © JvL 19-04-2010 #194

Orchis simia, Lamarck 1779.
Orchis militaris group; on Lesvos Orchis anthropophora (syn: Aceras anthropophora) Orchis italica, maybe Orchis purpurea and Orchis simia.

Towards the middle of April it becomes really busy and stressful in the Orchid Paradise. You want to and you have to go to all parts and habitats of the island at the same moment and that is impossible. It gets this busy because half of all orchids on Lesvos begin to flower at the same time. And for that reason you go first to the habitats where you know for sure there are sufficient orchids around to photograph. But you have to search also for new locations and habitats because you want to find new or different species as well. So every now and then you turn your car into an unknown forest or mountain track. Or you park your car, take your camera gear and start walking. Exciting! Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you walk or drive around for hours without seeing one single Orchid. And then you regret not going to an already known orchid habitat. But why this introduction?

Orchis simia, Andissa. © JvL 21-04-2012 #146

HUNTING: Because 3 years ago, for the above mentioned reason, I took a side track off the route along the coast between Lapsarna (completely at the end of the north-west part of Lesvos) and Liota/Lygeri (a hamlet which has a great restaurant around a hollow tree) and after half an hour nerve-racking 4×4 driving, including crossing a very small bridge by the narrowest margin and driving along a completely overgrown track where the grass was so high you couldn’t even see where you were going, I reached the point of no return. This means that at a certain moment I decided that this track was getting nowhere and therefore I wanted to turn around. But turning a big car on a track of 2 meters wide actually is not something you want to do. So I stepped out and walked further to find a spot or sidetrack were I could turn. I noticed that I was separated by a steep ravine from the calcareous hill where I actually wanted to go. This hill, on the road to Gavathas, is disappearing very fast because of the cement industry. This big hill, with the name ‘Grigorélli’ (that meant something like ‘steep’ or ‘fast’ but nowadays it probably means ‘fast disappearing’, is being completely excavated. This cement industry is as a matter of fact ‘recycling’ a lot of the limestone hills (the favourite habitat of most orchids) of Lesvos at a record speed. Anyway.

Orchis simia, above Liota © JvL 8-04-2011 #272

HABITAT: Walking along this path, with a beautiful view over Liota, Gavathas and the sea, I saw in front of me a few big pink-purplish orchid-like flowers standing at the side of the road, Orchis italica, I thought on first sight, the naked-man Orchid? No, when I came closer they happened to be Orchis simia, the Monkey Orchid, an intriguing species that I hadn’t found and photographed yet. This illustrious orchid is difficult to find on Lesvos and maybe it is getting rare on the island. The preceding years I couldn’t find them, but maybe I was at the wrong times and the wrong places because last week I found tens of them on a side path from the road between Andissa and Lapsarna…But back to my Liota path. I continued to walk and found a very steep path where I could turn (20 times to and fro, sometimes hanging backwards). But before I did that I walked to the end of this path and I found tens of… (To be continued next week).

Orchis simia, above Liota. © JvL 19-04-10 #113

RESEARCH: About the name: – almost all orchidologists agreed on Orchis simia (Lamarck 1779). Then in 1843 a certain Mr. Lindley was eager to put his name behind this orchid so he called it Orchis macra Lindley. And then there were the gentleman Bonnier & Layens who thought in 1894 that it also could be Orchis militaris subsp. simia (Lamarck) Bonnier & Layens; therefore they could put their names in orchid history. A very popular occupation, this copy, cut, rename & paste activity among orchidologists, apparently as well in the old days.

SUNDERMANN already reported in 1980 that even though this southerly species has a wide distribution it was nevertheless quite scarce on the European continent.
In ‘Die Orchideen der Türkei’ on the other hand, KREUTZ (1998) reported that Orchis simia is not a rare species at all in Turkey and that it flowered in almost the whole country (except in the interior Anatolian region). But I am wondering if that might be still the case, because of the digging out of the bulbs by salepi dealers. I don’t think that digging out is the problem in Rhodes and Karpathos, but on both islands Orchis simia is also a very rare species. (KREUTZ, ‘The Orchids of Rhodos and Karpathos’, 2002).
The same is apparently true for Chios (TAYLOR 2012) because Taylor, Saliaris & Delforge didn’t find Orchis simia on Chios, Inouses or Psara. Cyprus (KREUTZ 2004): ‘Orchis simia is rare on Cyprus and its numbers are also declining due to excessive grazing, the species can therefore be categorized as threatened.’ It is as if I hear myself talking about Lesvos…
On Crete Orchis simia occurs locally in large populations (KRETZSCHMAR & Eccarius 2004), but ‘it is a conspicuously squat plant on Karpathos, and rare on Rhodes.’ DELFORGE (2005) noticed that the Orchis simia distribution is Mediterranean-Atlantic. Growing from the north to the south of England and Holland, east to Iran and Turkmenistan. But: ‘rather scattered and rare.’
Holland? Finally I can use ‘De orchideeën van Nederland’, (in English: ‘The Orchids of Holland’), KREUTZ & DEKKER, published in 2000. But (translation JvL): ‘The Monkey Orchid occurs nowadays only in the South of Limburg (the most southerly province of Holland, JvL). Besides the south of Limburg it was only found on one occasion in 1905 in the dunes near Scheveningen. It concerned only one plant and it appeared for only one year.’ Orchis simia doesn’t seem to like periods or even days and nights of frost…BAUMANN H./KÜNKELE S./LORENZ R. (2006), ah, I forget to mention them in my research introduction: they go for the name Orchis simia subsp. simia, and let me guess, B. Baumann & H. Baumann? No! No author and date at all!

Orchis simia, Andissa. © JvL 21-04-2012 #157

BOTTOM-LINE: KARATZÁ (2008) has 4 habitats for Orchis simia on Lesvos: Around Loutrá, Pigí, Ag. Pareskeví and Ándissa. Well, a few kilometers down from this last habitat, on the side track off the road to Lapsarna, I found this year 18 Orchis simia plants. And please help me out here Karatzá: for the last 5 years I have gone every year to Pigí to photograph all these beautiful, special orchids you mentioned for this habitat in your book, but I never found one… Where did I go wrong?

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 28-4-2012.

Chuck Berry (1972): ‘To much monkey business’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwTBLWXJZX0