Habitats: Sanatorium, Melies, Megalochori, Spides, Kournela.

Ophrys reinholdii, opposite Sanatorio © Jan van Lent 29-04-2011# 035 

Ophrys reinholdii SPRUNER EX FLEISCHMANN 1907 or
Ophrys reinholdii SPRUNER ex BOISSIER (between 1867-1885).
Ophrys reinholdii ssp. straussii (H. FLEISCHMANN & BORNMÜLLER) E.NELSON or
Ophrys straussii H. FLEISCHMANN & BORNMÜLLER 1923.
Ophrys straussii var. leucotaenia (RENZ & TAUBENHEIM) R. PETER 1992.

Ophrys reinholdii © Jan van Lent 29-04-2011#042, opposite Sanatorio.

HUNTING: You actually don’t hunt Ophrys reinholdii on Lesvos, you meet it. A few years ago, when I went up to the Sanatorio above Agiasos in April to hunt down C. epipactoides and P. holmboei and to see if H. comperianum was already flowering, I always squeezed me through the prickly bushes opposite Sanatorio to make some photographs from this big spectacular, almost heavy Ophrys with its black lip. I never gave it a second thought, it was clearly Ophrys reinholdii  and ‘everyone’ agreed on it – name, habitat, island – , I thought. So, load it into the computer and wait until something comes up that will change that opinion.

Until two years ago that is.  Because then it disappeared completely from this habitat.

But it re-appeared miraculously on the parking spot in the pine forest before the Sanatorio, actually a few meters from where I once found H.comperianum standing in the middle of this parking space. O.reinholdii was standing on the side, actually exactly where you put your right foot when you step out of your car. The first time I saw it I missed it only by a few centimetres… I made the photographs and went into the forest on the other side of the road to look for H. comperianum (and Ophrys homeri, and Orchis quadripunctata). But what really attracted my attention was the number of habitats where I found Ophrys reinholdii this year (2014): Melies, Megalochori, Spides, Kournella, everywhere above 300 meters in the south I found Reinhold’s Ophrys.

© Jan van Lent 21-03-2014 #070 Ophrys reinholdii, before Sanatorio on a parking spot.

Still I didn’t give it a second thought, until last month. A friend sent me a few photographs of Ophrys reinholdii which he made on Lesvos and a link to Mike Taylor’s website (http://www.chiosnet.gr/tourism/nature/chios_wildflowers.htm) for an Ophrys straussii var. leucotaenia, which Mike found (together with Pandelis Saliaris) on Chios. And if there is an orchid flowering on our neighbour island of Chios it is also possible that it flowers on Lesvos isn’t it? So I looked at his picture and started up my computer ‘Ophrys reinholdii & strausii’ folders. ‘Straussii’ because I once found – in a gorge up from Megalochori – one different looking Ophrys reinholdii and I gave it as a working name ‘Ophrys straussii’.

Ophrys straussii? © Jan van Lent 25-04-2012 #167 gorge up from Megalochori.

RESEARCH: But how wrong was I? And what are the differences between Oph. reinholdii & straussii?

Description Ophrys reinholdii: Well, that depends who you read. Ophrys reinholdii is so varied in colour of the perianth, the form & colour of the side lobes, the form of the central lobe and size/form of the speculum that everybody described it differently because they ARE all different. But for simplicity let’s say the middle lobe is black, brown-blackish or blackish-purple. And I never found two completely identical species. Because of this I will only quote the described differences between Ophrys reinholdii and Ophrys straussii.

DELFORGE (Oph. straussii): ‘As O.reinholdii but petals narrower; lateral lobes of lip more rounded; median lobe more convex, appearing obovoid; speculum often reduced and more centrally placed, comprising 2 parallel, contiguous drops, sometimes linked by a +/- broad transverse line; appendage reduced; tip of column more acuminate. A controversial taxon, intergrading broadly with reinholdii within the Aegean basin and in Anatolia; often considered a subspecies of the latter. ‘
(Variation ‘leucotaenia’): ‘variant with sepals pale, lateral lobes of lip white, speculum large.’

PEDERSEN/FAURHOLDT (Europe 2007) recognises two subspecies of Ophrys reinholdii: subsp. reinholdii and subsp. straussii of which (in their opinion) only subsp. reinholdii is known in Europe. ‘Subsp. straussii differs from subsp. reinholdii in its smaller flowers with recurved lip margins and in the small speculum that is usually without connection to the lateral margins of the lip. In addition to the morphological characteristics, it flowers substantially later, with a peak in May.’
‘Subsp. straussii has been reported (but in all probability erroneously) from Chios and Rhodes. We are convinced that the individuals in question belong to subsp. reinholdii which occurs in any array of forms on those islands. The distribution (from ssp. straussii) extends from the province of Antalya in southern Anatolia through to Iran and Iraq in the east. Additionally, this subspecies was recently found at one locality in Cyprus. [Not confirmed from Europe; Ana, Cyp].’

PETROU et al (2011): ‘In Chios and Rhodes we have found populations similar to Ophrys strausii and Oph. strausii var. leucotaenia. These plants have a pink perianth, narrower elongated petals, smaller lateral lobes, a more pointed lip, and a simpler speculum than O.reinholdii, usually two separate white spots, often joined by a wide white band.’
Occurrences of this species in Greece are not confirmed. Only BUTLER (1991) and DELFORGE (1995, 2001, 2005) record it on Rhodes.

TAYLOR (Chios 2012) shows in his book only Ophrys reinholdii but surprisingly also Ophrys ariadnae H.F.PAULUS 1994. But about O.straussii var. leucotenia (on his website http://www.chiosnet.gr/tourism/nature/chios_wildflowers.htm):’Ophrys straussii and the closely related Ophrys reinholdii have been known to occur on Chios since the early 1990′s when they were found in two localities in the northwest growing amongst oak trees where they flower in March and April. In May 2003 I found, in the company of Pandelis Saliaris, eight plants of O.straussii var. leucotenia at about 2000 ft altitude on the northern slopes of Pelinaeon in open pine woods. The type locality of this variety is in the Antalya region of southwest Turkey where it is known only from six sites, hitherto the only known locations until its discovery on Chios.’

3x Ophrys reinholdii, Kournella © Jan van Lent 8-04-2014

BOTTOM-LINE: Well, does this research helped me in any way? Some orchidologists thought they recognized subsp. straussii on Chios and Rodes. Reading the descriptions of Ophrys straussii (or maybe more accurate: Ophrys reinholdii subsp. straussii) I think that ‘we’ have also subsp. straussii on Lesvos. And maybe, if you search very thoroughly, you will find both species on separate habitats on all the Aegean islands. Other orchidologists declare that subsp. reinholdii flowers only in Europe and subsp. straussii in Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Lesvos is very close to – and in the elbow of – Turkey. So is the Lesvian flora (and the Aegean islands flora) only European or maybe also influenced by Asia Minor or Turkey (more accurate: the Ottoman Empire) which was for 400 years the occupying force here ? And let’s not forget that some of the islands (like Lesvos) once – million of years ago – were part of Asian Minor…

But Ophrys straussii var. leucotenia I could not find or distinguish on Lesvos – until now of course, most likely I will find tens of them somewhere in ’No Man’s Land’ next year.
And again: how should we distinguish Ophrys straussii var. leucotenia from Ophrys straussii (or O. reinholdii subsp. straussii)? 

KREUTZ (Turkey 1998) Ophrys straussii var. leucotenia: ‘Distinguished from Ophrys straussii because of the brightly coloured, extended and frequently very white speculum, the upwards thick white hairy side lobes of the lip and the mostly whitish coloured sepals.’ (Vert. JvL). Ah, yes, that will make a very big difference…
And why is there no Ophrys reinholdii var. leucotaenia yet, gentlemen?

Jan van Lent 1-9-2014

Ophrys reinholdii © Jan van Lent 25-04-2012 #004

Blaudzun: ‘Promises of No Man’s Land’: Paradiso, april 2014, Amsterdam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPIz04_2UMM

Blaudzun: ‘Heavy Flowers’ 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XZFPEK3sMs

Habitat: Eftalou, Old almond orchard Eftalou © Jan van Lent 26-02-2010 #018

Orchids in Eftalou 2004-2014:
Ophrys sicula TINEO, 1846.
Ophrys speculum LINK 1799.
Ophrys mammosa, DESFONTAINES 1807.
Ophrys phrygia, H. FLEISCHMANN & BORNMÜLLER 1923.
Anacamptis pyramidalis, (L.) L.M.C. RICHARD 1753.
Orchis sancta, LINNAEUS 1759.
Nowadays: Anacamptis sancta (L.) R.M. BATEMAN et al., 1997.
Orchis fragrans, POLLINI 1811.
Nowadays: Anacamptis coriophora  subsp. fragrans (Pollini) R.M. BATEMAN et al.,1997.
Orchis coriophora, LINNAEUS 1753.
Nowadays: Anacamptis coriophora (L.) R.M. BATEMAN et al.,1997.
Himantoglossum robertianum (LOISELEUR 1807) P. DELFORGE 2005.

Disappeared:
Orchis italica POIRET 1798.
Orchis collina BANKS & SOLANDER ex RUSSEL 1798.
Nowadays: Anacamptis collina (BANKS & SOLANDER ex RUSSEL.) R.M. BATEMAN et al., 1997.
Ophrys mammosa DESFONTAINES 1807 hypochromy or hybrid with Ophrys sphegodes MILLER 1768?

New this year:
Ophrys iricolor DESFONTAINES 1807.
Ophrys (iricolor subsp.) mesaritica H.F. PAULUS & C.& A. ALIBERTIS 1990

Ophrys (iricolor subsp.) mesaritica, Eftalou © Jan van Lent 17-03-14 #013

HABITAT: It was a very big surprise this spring when I discovered that 2 of the 8 rosettes I found between the thyme-bushes on the far west end of Eftalou in February, appeared to be Ophrys iricolor and its ‘daughter’ Ophrys iricolor subspecies mesaritica. Those two Ophrys had never appeared in Eftalou; the most northerly habitat on Lesvos where I knew they flowered was at the ‘Larisos’ corner on the road between the Gulf of Gera and Moria. And now I also know that the remaining rosettes are just very big Orchis sancta and one new Ophrys phrygia…

Every year in February or March the first Orchids appear in the phrygana (phrygana: an open dwarf scrub vegetation dominated by low, often cushion-shaped, spiny shrubs) and in the abandoned olive groves in Eftalou. Eftalou is situated a little bit to the east of the medieval village of Molivos, in the North of Lesvos. This location (habitat) is in botanic and orchidology terms unique in the North of Lesvos because of the abundance and diversity of the plants, herbs and orchid species which grow there. This has maybe to do with the existence of a small pine forest in this phrygana and the abandoned olive groves (until last year also abandoned by sheep and goats), the ‘overflow’ by wind or birds of plant semen from Anatolia (Turkey, on a distance of a few miles), a mixture of chalk, marble, granite, slate etc. in the (sandy) soil and also maybe the earlier existence of an ancient womans’ monastery as a neighbour possibly with herb gardens and a cemetery.

It is also an undiscovered area in Orchid research. Until now I have discovered 12 different orchid species on this land and between February and June there are hundreds of orchids flowering. That is unique because all orchidologists came to the conclusion that the north of Lesvos was uninteresting for orchids, with maybe only 3 different species which could grow there… So today, at the end of the 2014 orchid season, here are photographs of all 12 taxa, complete with the habitats where they grow and in flowering order.

FEBRUARY: Himantoglossum robertianum & Ophrys sicula © Jan van Lent 2004-2014.

MARCH: Ophrys iricolor & Ophrys iricolor subsp. mesaritica © Jan van Lent 12-03-2014.

MARCH – APRIL: Ophrys speculum & Ophrys mammosa © Jan van Lent 2004-2014.

MARCH – APRIL: Orchis collina & Ophrys umbilicata © Jan van Lent 2004-2014.

MAY: Ophrys phrygia & Anacamptis pyramidalis © Jan van Lent, Eftalou 2004-2014.

MAY: Anacamptis (Orchis) sancta & O. fragrans x sancta  =  Anacamptis (Orchis) kallithea; Anacamptis (Orchis) fragrans © Jan van Lent, Eftalou 2004-2014.

Ophrys iricolor, Eftalou © Jan van Lent 12-03-2014 #095

BOTTOM-LINE: Sometimes I get the feeling that we orchid lovers and orchidologists would do better to lay down on our backs on the sunny beaches instead of on our stomachs in the fields between the snakes, the spiders and the thorny bushes and wait until BATEMAN, PRIDGEON & CHASE or in shorthand ‘BPC 1997*’ have taken DNA from ‘all’ orchids and renamed them ‘all’. And there are a lot of ‘et al.’ these days…

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 20-06-2014

‘Lay Down’: Melanie et al., (the Edwin Hawkins Singers) for an ‘enthusiastic’ Dutch audience in 1970… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOExGVgQzRg

Snow in Eftalou © Jan van Lent 8-01-2004.

*BPC 1997 stands for ‘genes approved and authorized’ by: BATEMAN, PRIDGEON & CHASE 1997’. I made this acronym because otherwise visitors to my blog get the impression that those three gentlemen are the authors of almost all Orchis but they ‘just’ changed the Genera and rendered those Orchids from Orchis into Anacamptis.

Habitats: Above Skopelos & again Mt.Fouga.

Ophrys apifera, Skopelos © Jan van Lent 27-04-14 #159

Ophrys apifera Hudson 1762.

HUNTING: Yes, I knew where to go and yes, it still took me hours to find this orchid which was just standing in the ditch next to the road, clearly visibly to whoever passed by… But my excuse is that I had to slither three times down from a steep slope because it started raining & thundering and because I found tens of different big oestrifera-family members which I also wanted to measure up and photograph! So, again another find by the Crossbill Guides Guys & Girl: Alex, Dirk and Christiana (www.crossbillguides.com/). And after this I gave them my list of all ‘vanished’ orchids of Lesvos, maybe they can find what ‘nobody’ else could.

Ophrys apifera, Skopelos © Jan van Lent 27-04-14 #134

But before I could finish this blog I went back to the Mt. Fouga oak forest in the neighbourhood where I found Orchis purpurea (see blog 35 ‘Purple Haze’: www.janvanlent.com/blog/?p=2819.) before a possible Cephalanthera damasonium could be eaten by the goats from a nearby farm. And guess what we found there: three (3) Ophrys apifera in full bloom, and now the pink version!

Ophrys apifera, Mt. Fouga © Jan van Lent 1-05-14 #099

RESEARCH: What is this? Years of searching in vain on Lesvos for this Bee Ophrys whilst almost the whole world stumbles over it: in nearly all of Europe, in the Balkans, in mainland Greece and on the islands Chios, Samos, Crete, Karpathos, Rhodos and even Cyprus; everywhere it grows in abundance, that’s what I read. PETROU (2011): ‘A rather common species often forming large populations’. ANTONOPOULOS (2009): ‘A broadly-distributed Mediterranean species, found all over Greece.’ But not on Lesvos, Gentlemen!
The last time somebody put into the archives that they actually saw them flowering on Lesvos was BERGFELD & BERLINGHOF on 26-05-2009, north of Megalochori. Apparently they saw thousands of O.apifera in Germany because they didn’t make a special note of it, but they did made a note that they didn’t find Cephalanthera rubra there.  I mean, I don’t want to know where you don’t find C. rubra, that’s probably on the whole island; I want to know where you DO FIND C. rubra!

3x Ophrys apifera, Mt. Fouga © Jan van Lent 1-05-14 #098, 122, 132

Before this notation it was again BIEL (1998) on the 30^th of May 1996 and HANSEN & NIELSEN who found two Ophrys apifera on the 5^th of June 1992 (!) around Megalochori. Also KARATZÁ (2007) painted this area -and a small area around Nées Kidonia where I searched for years – red in his book ‘Orchidées, Agrioloúlouda tis Lésvou’. That was it. Even DEVILLERS ET AL (2010 & 2012) missed this Ophrys (and Orchis purpurea) in their meticulous search for new names during their three visits to Lesvos (April 1990, April 2003 and April-May 2010).
The author of this orchid, HUDSON, was also the author of Orchis purpurea, our previous find on the island. (see blog 35: ‘Purple Haze’.) I never heard of Hudson before I wrote that blog. It was also hard to find something about him on the internet, this in spite of the fact that he is the author of the famous ‘Flora Anglica’ published in 1762. And that I didn’t know about him had also to do with the fact that both orchids – Orchis purpurea and Ophrys apifera – are also West European orchids and described (in this case) in England.

Ophrys apifera, Mt. Fouga © Jan van Lent 1-05-2014 #102

BOTTOM-LINE: Those hills above the 5 villages (Paleokipos, Plakados, Papados, Messagros & Skopelos) on the Gulf of Gera at the middle lobe of the island are not as thoroughly searched as they should be: you always get lost in those villages before you get to where you want to go to. Was that why Redbeard the pirate – ‘Barbarossa of Lesvos’ – lived here centuries ago? (SMIT & VAN LENT: ‘Scatterlight Donkeys & Foxballs Ice Cream’, Lesvos 2011). And is this red beard under the lip of Or. apifera a reference to… O, okay, so maybe not. Apifera means literally ‘bee bearing’ but we can easily make a slip of the tongue: ‘beard bearing’: Ophrys barbafera or barbarossa DEVILLE… Sorry! But actually it will fit in very well in their series ‘Famous Orchids of Lesvos’: Ophrys theophrastus, Ophrys sappho, Ophrys barbarossa.

Ophrys apifera Skopelos © Jan van Lent 27-04-14 #137

Maybe I’m just amazed that for the first time I saw white smoke coming out of the orchidologists chimneys… Everybody, even PEDERSEN & FAURHOLDT (2007) and KEW agreed with the name, author and date of description of Ophrys apifera Huson 1762.
So what else is there to say about this Ophrys: O Yes, it is also self-pollinating*. But nobody could tell me why this ‘prickle’ (a more or less downwards pointing rhomboid appendage) is on its ass…

Jan van Lent, Lesvos 3-05-2014

Rod Steward & the Faces: ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ 1972.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLhoLkTyNkM

So no, not the P. McCartney/Wings version, and no, not the Grohl & Jones version with the Obama’s and Oprah Winfrey applauding for and to Sir Paul McCartney in 2010. But  I am amazed by the Will Lee version of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bSDRQdB_co

*Ophrys apifera is an isolated species, mostly but not exclusively self-pollinating wrongly held to be monocarpic (a plant that flowers only once and then dies after producing seeds). The pollinia, whose long caudicles wither only a few hours after the flower opens, drop from the loculi and fall onto the stigma at the slightest touch. (DELFORGE)

Mt. Fouga © Jan van Lent 1-05-2014 #140: What else in hidden in this woods?

Habitat: Mt.Fouga, Pedino, 255 meters above sea level.

Orchis purpurea, Mt.Fouga, © Jan van Lent 23-04-14 #018.

Orchis purpurea HUDSON 1762.
Orchis purpurea subsp. purpurea KRETZSCHMAR ET AL., 2007. 

HUNTING: Well, hunting is not the correct word in this case, finding is already a bit more accurate, and detecting is maybe the word I’m looking for. For years I (and other orchidologists) was hunting for this purple Lady Orchid* in the south of the island, around Megalochori, because BIEL (1998) and KARATZÁ (2007) indicated that they found this Lady Orchid there. And at least BIEL wrote that he saw it only once and also for the last time in flower, almost 20 years ago, in April 1995. But here it is in 2014, in the ultimate north of the island, and it was Dutch ecologist Alex Tabak (www.crossbillguides.com) and Christiana Bairaktari (www.hellenicwholefoods.com) who recovered this big, remarkable orchid again on a track on their way to Liota/Ligeri and gave me the directions to find them.

Orchis purpurea, Mt.Fouga, © Jan van Lent 23-04-14 #042

HABITAT: This Purple orchid travelled a long way in the last 20 years, maybe hitchhiking in the hairs of wild goats, on the back of a tortoise or maybe through air as seeds with birds? The distance between Megalochori and Mt. Fouga is about 80 km as the crow flies, but by road it will take you in a car almost half a day. So how did it come here? Was it maybe always growing here? I asked a local inhabitant if she knew about wild orchids but she pointed out that she only saw orchids in her garden. So this question will maybe remain unanswered for ever.

Orchis purpurea, Mt. Fouga, © Jan van Lent 23-04-14 #032

The oak forests in the north and west of Lesvos are the old original vegetation of the island but disappeared almost completely because of the need of wood for building boats and firing the stove, edible vegetations for sheep, olive groves and nowadays vineyards. In some inhospitable places it comes back discreetly and when the undergrowth is not intensively eaten by goats and sheep it can be a new habitat for orchids like Orchis purpurea and Orchis simia, – the latter is flowering here in abundance. I found also a few members of the Ophrys oestrifera-family: a lot of Anacamptis pyramidalis and even Cephalanthera longifolia and Limodorum abortivum were thriving in those woods. The other (almost impenetrable) vegetation consisted almost totally out of Shaggy Cistus, Thyme, Prickly Asparagus and Thorny Burnet. And because the head of Orpheus was buried in a cave nearby the nightingales sing also more sweetly on this mountain than anywhere else…

2 Orchis purpurea & 1 Orchis simia, Mt. Fouga, © Jan van Lent 23-04-14

RESEARCH: Until recently I should be quickly done with my research on the Purple (Lady) Orchid, because ‘everybody’ agreed on its morphological appearance, the name, date and author of Orchis purpurea Hudson 1762. But ‘things’ are changing fast in orchid ‘circles’: BATEMAN, PRIDGEON & CHASE and KRETZSCHMAR ET AL. reshuffled a lot of species in the genera Aceras, Anacamptis, Neotinea and Orchis (see also blog 19, 20) in recent years. For almost 250 years (between 1762 and 2006) its name didn’t change until KRETZSCHMAR and BAUMANN made the name a bit longer: so now it is Orchis purpurea subsp. purpurea KRETZSCHMAR ET AL., 2007 because BAUMANN ET AL are the authors of Orchis purpurea subsp. caucasica (Regel) B. BAUMANN & AL, and Orchis purpurea subsp. lokiana (B and/or H. BAUMANN) H. BAUMANN & R. LORENZ so there had to be an Orchis purpurea subsp. purpurea first.

Relief in orchid land! So we don’t have to change the genus of this Orchis nor do we actually have to change the author’s name because KRETZSCHMAR wasn’t the author of this orchid, he only changed its name. Now we are all waiting for an orchidologist who will try to change this to Orchis purpurea var. purpurea… or worse: ‘my’ second more brownish Orchis purpurea to Vermeulia purpurea var. sappho.

Orchis purpurea,Mt.Fouga, © Jan van Lent 23-04-14 #011.

BOTTOM-LINE: Choosing the Catholic Pope is a very difficult matter. They lock up the Cardinals (sometimes for weeks) in a room with a fire place and when they have decided who should be the new Pope, they produce white smoke and everybody can come out of the room and live happily ever after. Choosing genera & species names for orchids is also a difficult matter. I heard orchidologist (Carsten Schmegel) propose that we should lock up Bateman et al., Kretzschmar et al, Baumann et al., Paulus et al, Tyteca & Klein, C.A.J. Kreutz, Pedersen and Faurholdt, Delforge and the whole Devillers-gang in a room and they only can come out if we see white smoke coming out of the chimney, when they have finally decided about which orchids belongs to which genera, about decent species names and a unified species theory for orchids that will last 10-20 years or so. With great pleasure I agree with him.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos 26-4-2014.

Purple Haze: Jimi Hendrix Experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHPgoZlSWY 

*There exists also a Dancing Lady Orchid (Oncidium altissimum) but that grows in Jamaica (so why not Reggae Lady Orchid?) and a Pink Lady’s Slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule), A Queen Lady’s Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium reginae) and, and… But those are not Wild European Orchids but Tropical or Asian Orchids (Yes, those that you buy in flower shops and supermarkets).

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

The 13 members of the Ophrys fusca-family, 2-01-2014 until 31-03-2014. © Jan van Lent 7-03-2014.

CONTINUATION from blog 30, 31, 32 & 33: The story of an ‘ordinary’ Ophrys fusca group, somewhere next to a parking spot in a Lesvos pine forest along the ‘highway’ to Mytilini in the neighbourhood of Lambou Mili.

The 4 surviving members in February 2014 (15-02-2014): sancti-isidorii, phaseliana, lindia, leucadica.

Pl.1 Oph. sancti-isidorii; very early flowering, bent lip, short lateral lobes, reddish border.
Pl. 6 Oph. phaseliana; broadly rhomboidal lip and broad lateral lobes, yellow-brown border.
Pl.10 Oph. lindia; almost straight lip, small stigmatic cavity, small yellow or reddish border.
Pl.12 Oph.leucadica; reddish-brown lip, lateral lobes rounded, half concealed under the middle lip, small reddish border.

PART 5: March 2014 – 2013 – 2012 – 2011:

07-03-2014: Pl.8: Ophrys fusca ssp. leucadica RENZ 1928.
Pl.10: Ophrys fusca ssp. lindia H.F. PAULUS 2001.

Sadly enough there are today (7-03-2014) only two Ophrys left: Ophrys lindia & a newly flowering Ophrys leucadica, plant 8.  All the others are broken, eaten, stepped on and – plant 6 Oph. phaseliana - even completely VANISHED from the spot. But I’ve got photographs from this fusca-group from March 2011, 2012 and 2013. So I can compare these Ophrys from year to year.

02-03-2013 pl.1 & 2: Ophrys sancti-isidorii A. & P.SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010.
Pl.6: Ophrys phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ 2004.
Pl.7: Ophrys pelinaea DELFORGE 2007.
Pl.10: Ophrys lindia H.F. PAULUS 2001.
Pl.12: Ophrys leucadica RENZ 1928.

At the beginning of March 2013 there were 6 plants in flower! Pl.1 Oph. sancti-isidorii had 3 flowers; pl.2 Oph. sancti-isidorii: 3 flowers; pl.6 Oph.phaseliana: 3 flowers; pl.7 Oph.pelinaea: 2 flowers; pl.10: Oph.lindia only 1 flower and pl.13 Oph. leucadica: 2 flowers.

19-03-2012 Pl.1 & 2: Ophrys sancti-isidorii, A. & P.SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010.
Pl.4: Ophrys sancti-isidorii.
Pl.6: Ophrys phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ 2004.

2 years ago, on the 19^th of March 2012, 4 plants were flowering: Plants 1 and 2, both Oph. sancti-isidorii; plant 4 Oph. sancti-isidorii was also flowering a did plant 6: O. phaseliana. The lip of O.phaseliana had a more reddish colour but otherwise it looks the same as in the other years.

12-03-2011 Pl.1&2: Ophrys sancti-isidorii, A. & P.SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010.
Pl.4: Ophrys sancti-isidorii.
Pl.6: Ophrys phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ 2004.

And I can now also compare today’s Lambou Mili Ophrys with 2011 because I was at this spot for the first time on 12-03-11. On that date there were 4 plants flowering: plants 1 & 2:
O. sancti-isidorii, plant 4: O.s-isidorii??? and plant 6: O. phaseliana.

Pl.7: Ophrys pelinaea © Jan van Lent, 12-03-2013 #106

BOTTOM-LINE: Observing that all those Ophrys fusca subspecies sometimes flower together for years, often at the same time (February-March!), next to each other on the same habitat, – and to make it a little bit more confusing,  they are all brown, with a white W and some blue in the speculum – it makes me wonder how orchid specialists (professors and orchidologists) who are visiting the Greek islands for just one or two weeks between April and June could have known what they have seen and how they could give a ‘new’ name (and of course their own name as author) to those orchids…

I’ve noticed that there is something ‘strange’ with plant 4, which was in 2012 clearly Oph. sancti-isidorii but in 2011 the same plant looked like a hybrid between Oph. phaseliana and Oph. sancti-isidorii. Was it in earlier years Ophrys phaseliana or even Ophrys pelinaea which developed through 3 or 4 years into Oph. sancti-isidorii?
And are there maybe more Ophrys on this spot which disguised themselves as something which they were not? We will figure that out in the next episode of ‘Sooner or Later’!

Jan van Lent, Lesvos 16-4-2014.

‘Sooner or Later’: Breaking Benjamin 2007.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpdFoizbnTg

‘It Makes Me Wonder’: Suzanne Vega 2008.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXvEtikBNJg

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

Pl.12: Ophrys leucadica & pl.10: Ophrys lindia, Lambou Mili, © Jan van Lent, 15-2-14.

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 (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.
12-02-2013: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010
                     Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ.
15-02-2014: Ophrys (fusca subsp.) sancti-isidorii A. & P. SALIARIS & ALIBERTIS 2010,
                     Ophrys (fusca subsp.) phaseliana (D. & U. RÜCKBRODT 1996), KREUTZ.
Ophrys lindia H.F. PAULUS 2001,
                     Ophrys (fusca subsp.) lindia (H.F. PAULUS) KREUTZ 2004.
Ophrys leucadica RENZ 1928,
                     Ophrys (fusca subsp.) leucadica (RENZ) KRETZSCHMAR 2002.

CONTINUATION from blog 30, 31 & 32: The story of an ‘ordinary’ Ophrys fusca group, somewhere next to a parking spot in a Lesvos pine forest along the ‘highway’ to Mytilini in the neighbourhood of Lambou Mili. Last week 4 plants were in flower: Ophrys sancti-isidorii 1 (2 flowers) & 4 (2 flowers) were both still flowering, plant 6 – Ophrys phaseliana – had only one flower left and the new plant 10 which I couldn’t identify yet.

Ophrys fusca group, Lambou Mili parking place, © Jan van Lent, 15-2-14 #085 & 12-2-13 #041

PART 4: 2014. Sadly enough both plant 1 (Oph. sancti-isidorii) and plant 6 (Oph. phaseliana) lost one flower and another member (plant 4: Oph. sancti-isidorii) was completely eaten by vegetarian vagabonds but we remember them with love & appreciation.

Pl. 1: Ophrys sancti-isidorii on 15-2-14 #101, #097 & pl.2 and pl.1 on 12-2-13 #011, #015.

12^th February 2013:  3 plants had flowers on this date – plant 1 (left – Oph. sancti-isidorii) now had 2 flowers, plant 2 (left – Oph. sancti-isidorii) had 1 flower, plant 4 (left) was eaten by insects, plant 6 (Ophrys phaseliana) also now had two big flowers. And about the ‘changing’ of the plant 1: Oph. sancti-isidorii, with the lip more bent down: Last year the lip was still almost flat, and slightly turned up at the end of the lip, but that was flower 2 of plant 1. And as we can see on the photographs above, this bending down of the lip started already with flower 2 on 12-2-13 – but it is still Ophrys sancti-isidorii I think…

Pl. 6: Ophrys phaseliana on 15-2-14 #092, #144 & on 12-2-13 #026, #022.

Plant 6 – Ophrys phaseliana – arrived in 2013 almost two weeks later than this year, and had also two flowers. The flowers looked the same as this year but because of the rain and the water on the lip the colour was a bit more ‘golden’ brown. The form of the lip and the speculum were the same. The flowers were also more ‘damaged’ than this year, probably by its pollinator.

This week we have two new ‘guests’; plants 10 & 12 join in for the weekly fusca group meeting, welcome! Plant 12 looks to me like a real Ophrys leucadica, var. orientalis that is, and it should also be time that it finally arrived in this weekly presentation. You can read all about this (sub) species in blog 18: ‘No Money, no Honey’, Ophrys leucadica orientalis’. (http://www.janvanlent.com/blog/?p=1570)

Plant 10 had last week already one flower but was half eaten by insects. So here is the new flower of this week: Ophrys lindia H.F.Paulus 2001! Or for the devotees: Ophrys fusca subsp. lindia (H.F. PAULUS) KREUTZ 2004. Ophrys lindia? Well, yes, Ophrys (fusca subsp.) lindia. I know, I know, the experts informed us that this Ophrys is only flowering on Rhodes, Karpathos & the opposite Turkish coast but I doubt that. On a lot of habitats on Lesvos I photographed some (also early) Ophrys which, compared with ‘the books’ and the descriptions had to be Ophrys (fusca subsp.) lindia.

The 4 surviving members on 15-02-2014, vlnr: pl.1: O. sancti-isidorii, pl6: O.phaseliana, pl10: O.lindia, pl12: O.leucadica.

RESEARCH: In the SUNDERMANN days there was no such thing as ‘lindia’, and also KREUTZ (Turkey 1998) couldn’t give a name to all the different variations from Ophrys leucadica he found in Turkey.  We had to ‘wait’ 20 years before H.F.PAULUS described this Ophrys from Rhodes in 2001. PAULUS (2001): ‘At the same place (on Rhodes, JvL) grows O. lindia, also spotted elsewhere on the island and in the province of Mugla (by Kavaklidere), in south-western Turkey. It’s easily distinguished by its bright colours and the yellow border of its labellum. It flowers also definitely later than O. leucadica which is completely withered when O. lindia begins to flower.’

Already one year later KREUTZ (2002) published ‘The Orchids of Rhodes and Karpathos’ in which he remarked about Ophrys lindia (not yet Ophrys fusca subsp. lindia…): ‘Ophrys lindia immediately stands out due to the light hue of its labellum with a wide, light yellow or brown-yellow border. This distinguishes it clearly from the earlier flowering, otherwise similar Ophrys leucadica, of which the border is mostly narrower. Solitary plants of Ophrys lindia however usually have a darker hue, but can be classified by the wide shape of the labellum with its absent or very slight geniculation. The speculum marking is variable, as in all Ophrys fusca-forms. Most plants at the ‘locus classicus’* have a light blue, shiny speculum, without a distinct, coloured border at the front margin of the labellum. The speculum of the solitary plants can have almost light gray or brownish spots. In those cases, the apical margin is always brighter to whitish. In comparison to Ophrys leucadica, the speculum of Ophrys lindia usually stops abruptly and evenly at the base of the labellum, while that of O.leucadica spreads further gradually. In their flowering periods, leucadica and lindia are variously separated from each other. While leucadica certainly already starts flowering from early March and mostly reaches the end of its flowering period during late March on Rhodes, Ophrys lindia does not start flowering until late March.’

Plant 10 (right) Ophrys lindia, © Jan van Lent, 15-2-14 #116

There we go, from now on ‘everybody’ will copy that the flowering periods are different without really checking that on the Aegean islands…

Also KRETZSCHMAR ET AL (2004) had already heard from this newly described Ophrys lindia from Rhodes, but in their book Orchids Crete & Dodecanese (so including Rhodes, JvL) there is no such thing as an Ophrys lindia. ‘Local Taxa have also been differentiated on Rhodes, and have been newly described in the species range by PAULUS (2001). (…) The formation of diverse, locally homogeneous small taxa by means of cluster-building thus receives the maximum encouragement. It does not seem to serve any purpose to list these small Taxa, of which there are more on the island, as species. They are retained as synonymous forms, even if special relations with pollinators might have been developed. It is exactly this plethora of new, local sightings which makes their importance increasingly questionable where the differentiation of species is concerned and a coincidental, local relationship more probable.’

DELFORGE (2005) Ophrys lindia: ‘Small, thickset, robust, 9-16 (-20cm) tall; (1-) 2-4 (-8) medium-sized flowers; (…) petals green to yellowish-green, often with a lighter margin, curving forwards; lip near horizontal to pendent, oboval to near rhomboidal-rounded, 9-12.5mm x 7.5-10mm (when spread), slightly convex both transversally and longitudinally; base of lip with a narrow throat and short, rounded swellings; centre of speculum region slightly depressed; (…) lip hairs dense, long, rather dark chestnut-brown around speculum, paler in the distal zone, often becoming lighter reddish-brown and irregularly yellowish; lip surrounded by a bright yellow (sometimes reddish) papillose margin, often broad, passing around the sinuses; speculum usually undivided, dark blue to purplish-brown, usually broadly edged paler blue to white at tip, forming a large W, with fine, short, erect, whitish hairs in dark portion but near hairless in lighter areas; stigmatic cavity rather small when compared to lip.’

Pl.10: Oph. lindia, © Jan van Lent, 15-2-14: fl.1: #116, fl.2: #164, fl.1: #159, fl.1: #157

So almost right! Only the the form of the lip: ‘oboval to near rhomboidal-rounded, 9-12.5mm x 7.5-10mm (when spread), slightly convex both transversally and longitudinally’ is different, ‘my’ O. lindia is slightly bigger and slimmer.

ANTONOPOULOS (2009) Ophrys lindia: ‘An Ophrys under dispute, considered by some as a separate species and by others simply as a variety of leucadica or attaviria. It is distinguished from Ophrys leucadica with its lighter brown colouring on the lip, larger yellow border and later flowering period. (mid March – Mid April.)’

PETROU ET AL (2011) Ophrys fusca subsp. lindia: ‘Flowering-habitat: Late March-April, in pinewoods, abandoned cultivation, phrygana, maquis, up to 400 metres. A very rare taxon with localised populations. Possible confusion: Individuals are quite variable. It may be confused with O. fusca subsp. leucadica, which, however, reaches higher altitudes, has a darker lip, with narrower yellow border, and its speculum is bisected by a deep groove. Some authors consider this taxon just a variation of O. fusca subsp. leucadica.’

Also KARATZÁS ET AL (2008-2009?) found Ophrys lindia on Lesvos: on the south-east coast between Thermí, Moria & Koústeri, at the Gulf of Gera near Loutrá and Pigí, and in the south around Plomari and Paliochóri. But in their 2 photographs of this species I hardly can recognize ‘my’ Ophrys lindia.

Pl. 10: Ophrys lindia. Lambou Mili p. © Jan van Lent, 28-2-14 #026

BOTTOM-LINE: And that is the sad story of this Ophrys; if I compare my photographs with almost all published (the books & internet) photographs of Ophrys lindia then there is not one that looks the same, and sometimes not even nearly the same. So, either ‘my’ lindia is not Ophrys lindia or ‘my’ leucadica is not Ophrys leucadica but then, what else? I really don’t want to describe another ‘new’ fusca subspecies. So Ophrys lindia it will be for today…
And all those ‘stories’ about Ophrys lindia flowering late and Ophrys leucadica var. orientalis flowering early is a) because nobody visited the eastern Aegean islands early enough to check this out, or b) ‘they’ didn’t know where to look, and c) ‘they’ just rewrite what the ‘experts’ wrote, without really checking on it.

Still 5 rosettes to go! Will they also have been consumed by insects or animals, kicked down by pissing human beings or covered up by rubbish? Or will they survive all those disasters? That we will find out in the next episode of ‘sooner or later’…

Jan van Lent, Eftalou, Lesvos, 1-3-2014

* ‘Locus classicus’: The specific or original site (or example) of (in this case) an orchid.

N.E.R.D.: ‘Sooner or Later’ 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6frJ5IEA2Q

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