Habitat Eftalou.

Ophrys mammosa in the rain, Eftalou. © JvL 4-04-2012 #036

Ophrys mammosa Desfontaines 1807.
The Ophrys mammosa group: 4 – 5 species on Lesvos:
O. ferrum-equinum, O. labiosa, O. hystera, O. mammosa, maybe O. spruneri.

Ophrys mammosa, Eftalou. © JvL 4-04-2012 #044

HABITAT: It has been raining for two days now in Eftalou and it is the middle of April. Really I should do Ophrys mammosa because they are already flowering for 2-3 weeks everywhere in the olive groves and fields above our house and they are already beginning to wither. And they are also moving around, they are ‘on foot*’ so to say. One year at the left side of a goat path under an olive tree, the next year on the right side of the same track inside a big white Asphodel, one year under my chair in our olive grove and this year in front of our wood pile.

Red Ophrys mammosa or red Ophrys alasiatica? Eftalou. © JvL 24-03-2010 #063

But actually I waited so long because I hoped that the ‘red one’ would appear: Ophrys alasiatica (or maybe a red Ophrys pseudomammosa from Turkey or a red Ophrys morio from Cyprus, the seeds blown in by the southeast winds from last winter). But I don’t think it will appear, because on the spot where I saw and photographed this plant two years ago, on the 24^th and 26^th of March, there is nothing more to see than the ‘going’ Ophrys sicula and the rosettes of the ‘coming’ Ophrys sancta.
And maybe the late mammosa ones like Ophrys hystera and Ophrys aesculapii var. planimaculata still can appear. They were flowering in Eftalou for several years but the last two years they didn’t come back. Okay, Ophrys collina came back and I found a Himantoglossum robertianum in Eftalou (see Blog 7) so I can’t complain this year; until now only Ophrys umbilicata didn’t return to his spot in Eftalou.

Ophrys mammosa, Eftalou. © JvL 4-04-2012 #054

But let’s go first back to ‘the blue eyes’ Ophrys mammosa. Blue eyes because that is one of the distinct features of this Ophrys, or so I thought until today. But now I’m not so sure anymore; I see more black than blue eyed Breasted Ophrys in my books, so maybe this is a distinct feature of the Lesvos mammosa? (Ophrys aesculapii has green ones, as has Ophrys herae; Ophrys alasiatica blackish, surrounded by white shiny pseudo-eyes, Ophrys hystera has white to bluish pseudo-eyes with a greyish central spot). The other speciality of Ophrys mammosa (hence the name) are the big ‘breasts’ of course, the forwards pointing basal swellings of the lip. Another feature? The bicoloured lateral sepals; green on the upper part, reddish purple on the lower part. Ophrys spruneri on the other hand has completely rose-coloured petals and sepals.

RESEARCH: In 1980 SUNDERMANN described Ophrys sphegodes with 14 subspecies (and 2 variations) for Europe, so actually this was already the Sphegodes group. One of the subspecies was Ophrys sphegodes ssp. mammosa. Later on this became the sphegodes/mammosa group because mammosa became a more and more dominant species within the group.
Recently DELFORGE (Europe e.a 2005) rearranged sphegodes/mammosa into a small mammosa group (14 species) and a big sphegodes group (40 species) for Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. ANTONOPOULOS (Greece, 2009) did the same thing but he has a big mammosa group (15 species) and a small sphegodes group (10 species) for Greece. Also KRETZSCHMAR (2004, Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes) describes a sphegodes/ mammosa group but with only O.mammosa in the red/green group, the others (O.herae, O.sphegodes plus ssp. cretensis and ssp. gortynia) are in the green Sphegodes group.
TAYLOR (Chios 2012) found only Ophrys mammosa on Chios, no O. spruneri or sphegodes. And none of those 3 species were around on Inouses or Psara.
BKL (2006) exploit the name Ophrys mammosa ssp. mammosa and they have another 6 subspecies to offer, but none of them flowers on Lesvos. PEDERSEN/FAURHOLDT (2007) are nostalgic orchidologists (nostalogist or nostalgialists?) and they are going back in time to the seventies: the old Ophrys sphegodes group with Ophrys sphegodes ssp. mammosa and they describe only one species with greyish blue eyes (or in their terms: ‘eye-like knobs’) and that’s Ophrys sphegodes ssp. epirotica. But this subspecies with its more broad rounded lip and yellowish lip margin is not (yet?) flowering in Lesvos, only in Albania and north-western Greece.

O. mammosa & blue eyed pollinator Andrena fuscosa?, Eftalou. © JvL 26-03-2010 #053

There remain KREUTZ and KARATZÁ. To begin with ‘Die Orchideen der Turkei’ (KREUTZ 1998): No O.alasiatica, herae, hystera, spruneri or sphegodes, only O.mammosa and O.pseudomammosa and (from the ferrum-equinum group) O.ferrum-equinum itself and O.labiosa of course, (because he described the plant and put his name behind it).
In ‘Die Orchideen von Rhodos, Karpathos’, (KREUTZ 2002), there is not so much to find because Ophrys mammosa is relatively rare on Rhodes and very rare on Karpathos. The only other species of the group in this book is Ophrys transhyrcana but this Ophrys is also extremely rare on Rhodes (only known from 3 locations) and extinct on Karpathos. The (for me) most interesting book is ‘The Orchids of Cyprus’, KREUTZ (2004). In this book Kreutz starts his Ophrys part with Ophrys alasiatica. And when I compared my ‘red’ mammosa with his (small) photograph of alasiatica on page 158 I thought: ‘well, maybe here is some resemblance’. And on Cyprus he describes besides Ophrys mammosa also Ophrys herae, O. hystera and O. morio. And look at his photograph of the ‘red’ morio on page 185: almost identical to my red mammosa species!
KARATZÁ found Ophrys spruneri in the region between Thermi, Pigí and Moria. He photographed an Ophrys aesculapii with green eyes and a big yellow margin on the lip in the Arápi Pétres (behind Mesa sanctuary) and Ophrys mammosa for instance around Andissa in the northwest, but all the other locations are in the southeast of Lesvos.

Ophrys mammosa, Eftalou. © JvL 4-04-2012 #056

BOTTOM-LINE: Until now I only found Ophrys mammosa in Eftalou and Anemomilos (in the southeast, the Loutra side) on the gulf of Gera. In Anemomilos they were so big that I couldn’t miss them, in Eftalou I have tens of species, all individual plants with intense blue eyes, the most of them small and ‘travelling’ fast. These are difficult days in Eftalou; looking down all the time so you don’t step on one and crouching down when Andrena fuscosa, the pollinating bee of Ophrys mammosa is flying over to the scattered locations of ‘my’ Big Breasted Ophrys. Shall I apply for road signs?

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 21-4-2011

Willie Nelson & Shania Twain: ‘Blue eyes crying in the rain’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6wBxQVBozI

On my website janvanlent.com there was a incorrect E-mail address under CONTACT.
This has to be: vanlentlesvos@gmail.com.

*‘On foot’: the new walking guide for the whole of Lesvos by Mike Maunder and Sigrid van der Zee. Don’t go walking or looking for orchids without it…(www.lesvoswalks.net)

Habitat Eftalou.

Orchis collina, Eftalou. © JvL 7-04-2012 #004

Orchis collina Banks & Solander. Ex Rusell 1794 or 1798.
Orchis papilionacea group, on Lesvos: Orchis papilionacea and Orchis collina.

HABITAT: There are some days that miracles seem to happen all at once. For instance; here in our own ‘olive grove’ in Eftalou there were for several years 2 Orchis collina popping up every year. And suddenly, last year, they didn’t came back. I couldn’t even find their rosettes anymore. So last Saturday when I walked through the garden I thought, ‘why not look at the spot where the ‘collina’s’ were growing, maybe they’re back’. Well, nothing there. I looked around because I saw, two months ago, when the grass was not as high as today, many rosettes from the Holy Orchid, Orchis sancta, which is growing in abundance in Eftalou. And yes, there it was again, the Fan-Lipped Orchid, still small but beautiful. On a spot 5 meters away from where the ‘old’ ones were growing. But the ‘old’ ones had a completely different colour; they were rose-red, not white, dark red and green on the border of the lip. And when I last photographed the plant in 2009, it had yellowish-orange underskirts, maybe a sign that it had enough from this world and didn’t want to come back next year. But of course I didn’t recognize that sign.

Orchis collina, Eftalou. © JvL 7-04-2012 #016

REMARKS: Orchis collina is normally one of the first orchids to flower in spring and it is easily recognizable by the fan-like lip with a hole at the base, the darker markings in the middle of the lip and the thick, sac-like spur. The ‘wings’, the sepals, are just like a bird of prey, spread out, therefore the flowers make the impression of hovering (as in the Orchis mascula/ anatolica group). The colour of the flowers varies from whitish-green and pink-reddish to dull brownish-mauve.

And here is something remarkable about the Eftalou flowering collina’s: they were always pinkish-red. Not only the ones down in our garden but also the 2 species I discovered in 2008 in the ‘stone field’, this is a ‘hilly’ olive grove down from a small waterfall (only during winter and spring of course) between our house and the (ex) garbage dump. After that year they never came back. But they had the same colour; pinkish-red. Last year I found a few Orchis collina at the hill edge next to Andissa, and they were almost the same colour as the one who is now growing in my garden. Did I unintentionally take seeds with me from those orchids? Is that the reason the newcomer was 5 meters away from the spot of the old ones? Is this a new plant?

Orchis collina, Eftalou. © JvL 21-03-2009 #013

RESEARCH: John & Gerry (www.orchidsofbritainandeurope.co.uk) mentioned on their website that Orchis collina ‘is an unreliable flowerer and its appearance at all can be sporadic depending on the preceding winter/spring weather conditions’. Aha! By the way: All their photographs of O. collina are taken on Lesvos in the beginning of April.

After the eighties (SUNDERMANN Europe 1980) there didn’t change much in ‘Collina-land’; BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (Europe 2006) have nothing new to report on this species, not even a new subspecies name, neither has TAYLOR (Chios 2012, no Orchis collina around) and KREUTZ (1998-2002-2004), except that Orchis collina is not (anymore) flowering on Karpathos, but present on Rhodes, Crete and Cyprus but only occasionally in Turkey; KRETZSCHMAR & Eccarius (Crete & Dodenkanense 2004) feature the English name Hill Orchid instead of Fan-Lipped Orchid and KARATZÁ (Lesvos 2008) informs us that the Lófou Orchid (Lófos = hill) is flowering from Sigri to Gavathas in the west, around Achladeri at the Gulf of Kalloni to Plomari in the south and Ag. Marina in the south-east of Lesvos. DELFORGE (Europe 2005) on the other hand, has a lot of info, but mainly on the papilionacea group and Orchis papilionacea itself. He places collina in this group because of the entire fan-shaped and sometimes near rhomboidal lip of both species.

BOTTOM-LINE: The last four years I only found one Orchis collina high up Mt.Tavros above Komi, and four species at the Andissa ‘corner’.  So today we ‘also’ can add Eftalou as an Orchis collina habitat, and in the north ofLesvos…

Himantoglossum robertianum, Eftalou. © JvL 7-04-2012 #039

‘Also’ because after ‘shooting’ Orchis collina and drinking a cup of coffee I did my daily walk through the abandoned olive groves up from our house. Because: ‘you never know’. And indeed you never know because in a field, in the most far away and most completely neglected olive grove in the whole neighbourhood, I saw a strange, big plant standing upright. And when I walked to it I realized that this was not possible: a Himantoglossum robertianum lost in ‘wonderland’. Just two weeks ago I wrote a blog about this amazing orchid and I complained that I only found 2 species on the Mt.Gerania after unsuccessfully driving up and down the track between Mytilini and Loutra (in the south of Lesvos) for years. And then here it is, standing in my own back garden. Thank you, Alice!

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 12-4-2012.

Himantoglossum robertianum, Eftalou. © JvL 7-04-2012 #057

Avril Lavigne: ‘Alice’. 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI4m-l2yRZA

Habitat: Eftalou.

Habitat Ophrys speculum, Eftalou. © JvL 26-03-2010 #095.

Ophrys speculum Link 1799.
The Speculum group, on Lesvos only one species: Ophrys speculum.

Ophrys speculum, Eftalou. © JvL 29-03-2012 #105.

HABITAT: At the side of a small goat path in the phrygana of Eftalou, there have been for donkey’s years (well, I discovered them in 2005) a few groups of Ophrys speculum, the Mirror Ophrys or, if you want, Ophrys vernixia ssp. orientalis, the Oriental Mirror Ophrys. A few years ago, on a very small track through olive – and pine trees, overgrown with Thorny Burnet (Sarcopoterium spinosum), very Thorny Wooly Broom (Calycotome villosa) and Spanish broom (Spartium junceum), I was following a trail (made by a tractor that went straight through the phryganae to reach a olive grove a few miles further on) when I discovered those small blue (but by then flattened) Mirror Orchids. A year later the municipality of Molivos made an agricultural road for the farmers so now they can reach their olive groves in a more decent way. Since then this quickly overgrown track is used by goats, horses, donkeys and for a few years, refugees. The first three do this for pleasure, I think; the refugees did it in the hope of reaching Europe, which is on Lesvos 70 kilometers away… well Mytilini is. And so ‘my’ blue Mirrors were again fit for the scrap heap. But what I’ve noticed the last years is that those Mirror Orchids went to the side of the path, more into the Thorny Burnett and the Shaggy Cistus (Cistus creticus). And this year I discovered a new spot in Eftalou were two beautiful Mirror Ophrys popped up, now on a more accessible habitat.

This orchid with his shiny blue lip will not give a lot of difficulties in terms of identification. It is the only species of this group of two growing on Lesvos (the other one, Ophrys regis-ferdinandii, King Ferdinand’s Ophrys, does not grow on Lesvos). And that is not only a pity, but also a little bit strange, because this ‘King Ferdinand’ is flowering on Chios, and that is, seen from the south of Lesvos, just a few miles across the sea. And also in Anatolia, on the peninsula of Cesme and in the neighborhood of Izmir, there are some species. But not in Lesvos, maybe it’s just a little bit too northerly!

Ophrys speculum, Eftalou, © JvL 29-03-12 #114

RESEARCH: So this time no difficulties in terms of determination but (again) difficulties in the ‘official’ naming of the Oriental Mirror Ophrys; you just have to look at all its synonyms. And why? For more than 180 years it was well known under the name Ophrys speculum Link 1799. So why rename this plant? All vanity? Or: ‘mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the best orchidologist of us all’? Well, let see who that will be.
In the end of last century the name Ophrys speculum suddenly changed in Ophrys ciliata Bivona because Bivona-Bernardi discovered the pollinating wasp: Dasiscolia ciliata. But in 2001 H.F. PAULUS proved that the eastern plants of Ophrys speculum are pollinated by Dasiscolia ciliata subsp. araratensis instead of Dasiscolia ciliate. That should also explain the darker appearance of the eastern species of Ophrys speculum. And that’s why this eastern species of the Mirror Ophrys had already been named Ophrys speculum ssp. orientalis by DEVILLERS-TERSCHUREN in their ‘Essai systématique de genre Ophrys’ (1994), but they didn’t give this species this new name. H.F.PAULUS filled up this vacuum with the name Ophrys speculum ssp. orientalis H.F. Paulus.

Ophrys speculum, Larissos corner. © JvL 6-04-2011 #326.

There was a period in which Kreutz, who still used the name O. speculum in his Turkey book (1998) re-baptized this species O. ciliata var. orientalis (H.F.Paulus) Kreutz (yes, look carefully at the infix var.) and in 2002 as O.vernixia ssp. orientalis H.F. Paulus 2001. In 2004 (in The Orchids of Cyprus’) he stated that ‘Ophrys ciliata = O. speculum’ was no longer present on Cyprus. And suddenly, between 2004 and 2012, ‘everybody’ went back to the old name Ophrys speculum Link, at least KRETZSCHMAR, H. & G. & Eccarius, W. (2004), DELFORGE (2005), TAYLOR (2012), ANTONOPOULOS (2009) and PEDERSEN/ FAURHOLDT (2007). But I think those last gentlemen didn’t came back from another name, because they still use Ophrys speculum ssp. speculum. (as in SUNDERMANN 1980). And also BAUMANN/ KÜNKELE/LORENZ (2006) suppose that O.speculum ssp. speculum is a more manageable name.
And yes, our ‘own’ KARATZÁ & KARATZÁ (2008) still uses Ophrys vernixia ssp. orientalis.

Ophrys speculum, Eftalou. © JvL 29-03-2012 #010.

BOTTOM-LINE: Nowadays DELFORGE (Europe 2005) is of the opinion that ‘vernixia’ only occurs in Spain and Portugal, ‘speculum’ in the whole of the Mediterranean (but rare in Italy and France) and ‘var. orientalis’ (whose black of the basal field is extending to the sinuses of the lateral lobes; the speculum and the lip hairs somewhat darker) as an eastern variant. That has left us here on Lesvos again with two species and two choices: The more light-coloured Ophrys speculum and the darker, eastern/oriental growing, Ophrys speculum var. orientalis. To be honest, after again going through my entire ‘speculum’ photographs to find the differences, I give up: Please let it be just Ophrys speculum, in English: the Oriental Mirror Ophrys. And this English name is, I think, the name which suits this beautiful Orchid the best… pffft!

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

BLIND GUARDIAN: ‘Mirror, mirror (on the wall).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYdd4fMtW_A

Habitat: Mt.Gerania.

Himantoglossum robertianum, Mt.Gerania. © JvL 22-03-2012 #032

Barlia robertiana (Loiseleur) W.Greuter 1967 or
Himantoglossum robertianum (Loiseleur) P. Delforge 2005?
The Himantoglossum group. On Lesvos:
H. robertianum, H. comperianum, H. affine, H. montis-tauri, H. caprinum & Comptoglossum agiasense = H. comperianum x H. montis-tauri.

Himantoglossum robertiana, Mt.Gerania. © JvL 22-03-2012 #049

I don’t know what it is this year. I go out for an orchid hunt and find nothing, or like today only ONE Orchis papilionacea. Of course, this is a very nice orchid, but to fill a blog with one Butterfly Orchis after all my visits to Ophrys mesaritica is a little bit disappointing, I think. And I want to do deal with Orchis papilionacea in another location, where I found beautiful, big, and also white papilionacea in recent years.

HABITAT: I decided to try my luck at Mt.Gerania. Mt.Gerania you think, Geranium? Stork’s bill? Well, Mt.Gerania is a beautiful mountain somewhere between Kalloni and Mytilini. And yes, there are hundreds of hills between those two cities. To be more precise; drive up a small track on your left directly after the turning to Plomari on your right and follow it to the end, where a farmer has blocked the way to ‘protect’ his sheep. So no driving over the hilltop and arriving (via Mt.Spathi) on the other side of Lesvos, at Loutropoli Thermís. No, you have to turn around and drive or walk back downhill. And going down from up is not the same thing as coming up from down, you see different things from a different angle. So last year when I went down after a very successful Orchis hunt, I saw out of the corner of my eye a big reddish orchid behind a fence. And what could that be? Yes, a real Barlia robertiana or with its other name: Himantoglossum robertianum. In English: the Giant Orchid or Robert’s giant Orchid. According to the few orchidologists who ‘did’ Lesvos in February or March, this plant should be standing alongside the track between Mytilini and Loutra. Three long years, between the middle of February and the end of March, I drove this track up and down and I never found this Giant ‘Roberts’ Orchid. And then here it was, on a track in the middle of April last year. I was flabbergasted! This Orchid should, according to the books, be flowering in February or the beginning of March! Of course I climbed up (that was not easy, the bank was very steep) and started to take photographs. But this fence… Okay, I removed the fence (after first very carefully listening in case there was a farmer coming along the road with his pick-up truck) and (while slipping down on my stomach, hanging on to the corroded fence with one hand) I made tens of photographs. By the way, the fence I replaced properly.

 Himantoglossum robertianum, Mt.Gerania. © JvL 12-4-2011 #084

HUNTING: So, I knew where to go and look this year. On the spot along a small and already dry creek where I found last year a variety of beautiful Orchids, there was nothing to see or photograph. Oh yes, one very big rosette of an Ophrys from the Oestrifera group (the former fuciflora and scolopax groups). So over two weeks I have to come back and do it all over again… I do it all over for you. (From who was this song again?). But after this disappointing intermezzo I drove straight uphill to ‘my’ Giant Orchid. And yes, there it was, one month younger, still behind the fence, waving at me. I put my car directly under it, stepped out of my car, looked to make sure there were no farmers around and I saw another Giant Orchid, standing ten meters away, directly in front of me, no fence, no climbing needed. So I ‘shot’ this one.

Himantoglossum robertianum, Mt. Gerania. © JvL 12-04-2011 #097 & 22-03-2012 #044

RESEARCH: There is not so much to tell about Barlia or Himantoglossum robertiana, except of course about its name. No fights between the experts about its colour (from whitish-green to pinkish-red) its size (between 40-80cm) or the expression on its face. It is not a rare Orchid because it is distributed throughout the whole Mediterranean region, from Portugal to Turkey. No, only the name can lead to some tug-of-war. Should it be Barlia robertiana (Loiseleur) Greuter or Himantoglossum robertianum (Loiseleur) Delforge? Therefore, are we behind the Germans (Okay Swiss, but he was the last 30 years Professor in Berlin), as in GREUTER or behind the French (okay Belgian), as in DELFORGE? It really feels European this choice, like: are we behind Merkel or in ‘faveur’ of Sarkozy? But the remarkable thing is that G. & A. KARATZÁ (Lesvos, 2008), Greek nationals from Lesvos, go for Germany; for them it is also Barlia robertiana…
So DELFORGE (Europe 2005) made his point, but at the moment he and TAYLOR (Chios 2012) are the only orchidologists who renamed Barlia into Himantoglossum. And because Delforge is a splitter he splits Himantoglossum in another 3 groups with 8 species and 2 hybridogenous taxa ‘of uncertain status’: the H. comperiana group, the H. robertianum group & the H. hircinum group. And on Lesvos we are in the lucky position that we have 5 of the 8 species and 1 hybridogenous taxa of those 3 groups.
The KRETZSCHMAR’s & Eccarius (Crete & Dodecanese 2004) are not of his opinion, for them it is Barlia robertiana. ‘the plant is close to the genera Himantoglossum and Comperia, but in contrast to these species it is early flowering.’ But their book was published before DELFORGE, so they still can change their minds…
And also for BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (Europe 2006) it is still Barlia robertiana: ‘the early time of flowering, the short split-up middle lip and lack of hybrids speak against a merge with Himantoglossum’. And their book came out after DELFORGE.
For SUNDERMANN (Europe 1980) it was unarguable Barlia robertiana. ‘A monotypic species with a broad distribution and only insignificant relations to Orchis or Himantoglossum; it makes no hybrids’.
And also KREUTZ (1998, 2002, 2004) goes in all his books for Barlia robertiana. He does not explain his vision or decision for this name.

Himantoglossum robertianum, Mt.Gerania. © JvL 12-04-2011 #095

BOTTOM LINE: In my opinion (and for the comprehensibility of things) we can change Barlia into Himantoglossum and robertiana into robertianum. Why? Because I think it shares the same characteristics with the other members of this group (read DELFORGE p.348), but it is the drawing from the herbarium of E. Nelson & P. Delforge (see DELFORGE 2005, p.351) that really explained for me why they are related and why he puts them in 3 groups under the name Himantoglossum.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 1-04-2012
Revised: 31-5-2014 

In Memory of David Bowie, 1947-2016.
David Bowie: Changes (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJSv6JXKS_I

Habitat: Uphill Larissos valley.

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 19-3-2012 #099

Ophrys mesaritica H.F.Paulus, Ch. Alibertis & A. Alibertis 1990. Ophrys iricolor group, 2 species on Lesvos: Ophrys mesaritica & Ophrys iricolor.

HUNTING: It’s not always that I go out for an Orchid hunt and return with hundreds of photographs of a species which I haven’t found before. For instance like today. Five hours driving and walking without seeing one single Orchid. And after a certain time you don’t see ‘things’ clearly anymore. So time for a coffee and up to a habitat where you know for sure that ‘they’ are around. The only thing you never know is: am I at the right time? Orchids flower approximately for 3 weeks, but every year this is at a different time because of the weather of the previous months (see BLOG 1). But sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you’re not.

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 19-3-2012 #041

HABITAT: Therefore I went to a special habitat, next to an old cement or asphalt factory and nowadays a car dump. This area gets dirtier every year; everywhere you look there is rubbish, plastic, cut off olive branches, toilet paper and things you don’t want to know what they are! But in between all this dirt there are Orchids! And nice ones too! But today I didn’t see any, only the rosettes so I have to blog about them another time. I drove a little bit further on a very small track, the branches of some trees and shrubs made nice scratches on the sides of my car, and then you can’t go further, because you’re in an olive grove. You step out of your car, you look around and the picture below is what I saw on the 28^th of February two years ago.

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 28-2-2010 #133

On first sight you think: ‘O, that’s Ophrys iricolor’. But then you think; ‘what the hell, iricolor in February, that is not possible because they start flowering somewhere at the end of March/beginning of April, so could this be Ophrys mesaritica?’ But Ophrys mesaritica is not known to grow on Lesvos, only on Crete, Kythera, Kefallonia, Lefkada and Corfu. But then what? Those Ophrys are definitively not Ophrys iricolor! Of course you read your orchid books carefully so you know that the underside of the flower of iricolor is red and from mesaritica green. Yes. So you look carefully at their bottoms and they are all… reddish! And to make a jump in time; the last two years I looked at hundreds of bottoms of Ophrys from the iricolor group. And I saw dark & light red, light & dark brown, whitish-green & reddish-green bottoms! And actually who says those plants can’t be Ophrys mesaritica? No orchidologist, florists, biologists or botanists are around in February or March to check the bottoms of those Ophrys on this habitat or on Lesvos. Therefore I did that for them, and all those poor Ophrys are suffering from heavy afterpain on their flower stems…
On Lesvos I found between the middle of February and the middle of March a lot of Ophrys which are definitely NOT Ophrys iricolor if we consider their time of flowering, the size of those plants (mesaritica grows higher), the different way of flowering (mesaritica have more vertical hanging flowers, the flowers of iricolor are more horizontal standing) and mesaritica has also more flowers then iricolor. I counted max 8 for mesaritica, max 4 for iricolor.

RESEARCH: ANTONOPOULOS (2009) made an iricolor group which includes Ophrys astypalaeica, Ophrys iricolor, and Ophrys mesaritica. But: ‘Differentiation between the species of this group do not present problems; since the species have different geographical distributions or different flowering periods (Ophrys mesaritica flowers earlier)’. Thanks Zissis! I thought I had an identification crisis or a determination problem but thanks to you I haven’t!

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 28-2-2010 #728, #732, #740, #742

And lets see what BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (2006) have to say about Ophrys mesaritica. ‘Distinct from subsp. iricolor by earlier flowering time, smaller flowers and lighter (only green?) lip bottom. Lip 12-14 x 9-11mm, violet brown. (Iricolor 12.5-17 x 12.5-16mm, velvety black violet)’. Interesting that they write ‘lighter’ and only ‘green’ with a question mark so they are also not sure about the bottom colours!

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 19-3-2012 #091, #088, #075, #080

And they still use the name Ophrys iricolor ssp. mesaritica (H.F. Paulus, C. & A. Alibertis) Kreutz. Kreutz? This is after 1990 because earlier it was Ophrys mesaritica H.F. Paulus, C.& A.  Alibertis 1990. Maybe Kreutz thought that: a) mesaritica is a subspecies of iricolor, so I like to name it like that; b) this name was still available because nobody claimed it yet and so I can put my name behind it. Kreutz is ‘normally’ not an orchidologist who renames species into subspecies, more the other way around. And if we search in ‘Die Orchideen der Türkei’ (1998), in ’Die Orchideen von Rhodos, Karpathos’ (2002) and in ‘The Orchids of Cyprus’ (2004), all by the hand of C.A.J. KREUTZ, then we don’t find an Ophrys iricolor ssp. mesaritica or an Ophrys mesaritica. Only in this last book he mentions Ophrys mesaritica: ‘As KRETZSCHMAR’, who visited the island (Cyprus) in February, reports (1995), these Cypriot early-flowering plants show no variation whatsoever from the normal type, as happened, for example on Crete, where the early flowering taxon was separated and described by Paulus & Alibertis as Ophrys mesaritica.’ And: ‘A distinctive characteristic of Ophrys iricolor is the ventral side of the labellum, which is always reddish or reddish brown.’ Ventral? So my header should be: Ventral’s up?

In his iricolor group DELFORGE (2005) described 5 species: Ophrys astypalaeica (endemic to the island Astypalea in the Dodecanese), Ophrys iricolor (whole Eastern Mediterranean), Ophrys mesaritica (South-central Crete, Malta, ?Lesvos), Ophrys vallesiana (Northern Tunisia and Kroumirie?) and Ophrys eleonorae (Central Mediterranean). Ah, so maybe Delforge visited Lesvosin February/March? Let’s read what he writes in his ‘Discussion of the Ophrys iricolor group’: ‘The 2 central Mediterranean species (O. eleonorae and O. vallesiana) seem to be very closely related, linked especially by the concentric coloration of the centre of the underside of the lip – crimson bordered with yellowish-green. The structure and colour of the lip may also link the 3 eastern species into a cohesive group, of which O. iricolor would be the central figure; nevertheless, O. mesaritica is known from Crete and Malta and probably occurs on Lesbos, and this may indicate a central ancestral position for this species (O. mesaritica, JvL) within the group.’

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 25-3-2012 #027.

 BOTTOM-LINE: Let’s talk about colour. Yes, the flowers of Ophrys mesaritica are a little bit more reddish-brown from the top and the bottoms… well, as you can see on my photographs I found mesaritica with red, dark brown, crimson red, almost green and almost whitish-green undersides. But how come? Well, it may be very simple: the first flowers to appear have dark red bottoms; the older and the bigger the plant grows the bottoms just get paler and paler…

Ophrys mesaritica, Larissos corner. © JvL 25-3-2012 #007.

And because I think they’re not Ophrys iricolor and if you think that they’re not Ophrys mesaritica then there are only two other options: either they belong to the central Mediterranean species like O. eleonorae and O. vallesiana or it’s a new and (of course) endemic species, Ophrys larisotica! Etymology: From the Larisos valley of Lesvos.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 27-03-2012.

Nickelback: ‘Bottoms Up’ (cover by X-Y)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgPDgkEzpeg

Habitat: Kafkares & Sarakina, on the road to Palios.

The Palios castle. © JvL 8-12-2009 #071

Dactylorhiza romana (Sebastiani) Soó 1960/62.
The Dactylorhiza sambucina group, only one species on Lesvos:
Dactylorhiza romana.

HABITAT: After days of rain, harsh winds and cold temperatures, the weather is again back to being ‘Greek’, because for the last week it was more like ‘English’. So I went out to the most north-east part of the island, to Palios, which means ‘old’ in English. Palios is now a very tiny fisherman’s village and harbour; in wintertime nobody is living in this remote village anymore. In the old times Palios was a very important place, on this spot the pilgrims arrived on boats from across the sea (12 km), from what is now Turkey, earlier the Ottoman empire and before that a part of Greece. It was so important that it had its own castle where the pilgrims – who wanted to visit the Taxiarchis monastery – had to pay tolls before going on their way to Mandamados. Today only the stone walls remain from this once so important castle. Also nature in this whole area along the coast between Ag. Stefanos and Palios is very special: big red volcano stones are scattered through the landscape, and in winter and spring there is a lot of water around. But the hundreds of holes with stagnant water, pools, springs, watercourses and swamps are drying out by the end of May and only some deeper ponds remain. Because of all this water plants also grow here in abundance. At the end of March this whole area is covered in purple by the French lavender (Lavendula stoechas).

Dactylorhiza romana, Palios. © JvL 16-03-2012 #112

HUNTING: But yesterday nature here was just awakening. No Lavender, no Sage-leaved Cistus (Cistus salvifolius), no Annual Rockrose (Tuberaria guttata), no Orchis morio and not even the special, normally always present bird, the Ruddy shelduck (Tandorna ferruginea) was yet around. On 21 February last year I already found hundreds of Orchis, Serapias and Dactylorhiza so I was surprised that I could not find one plant, one Orchid in flower now! So I went deep into the bush, got wet feet when they sank into mud in a swamp and after one hour or so searching finally discovered a small pink Dactylorhiza romana. And small it was, just 16 cm high, so between the bushes it was hard to see. In comparison with the Orchid of my last blog, Ophrys sitiaca, there is no problem at all to indentify this Orchid because there is (as far as I know) only one Dactylorhiza around on Lesvos: Dactylorhiza romana.

Dactylorhiza romana, Palios. © JvL 16-03-2012 #040

RESEARCH: Thank goodness I have to say, (or deadly boring is also possibly) because the genus Dactylorhiza has in Europe 70 species, subspecies and variations according to BAUMANN/KÜNKELE/LORENZ (2006), but 236 species, subspecies and variations according to DELFORGE (2005). And between 2005 and 2010 a German orchidologist came with a list of 16 new discovered or newly described Dactylorhiza species. On Lesvos the only confusion could be in the naming because in 1980 SUNDERMANN used the name Dactylorhiza sambucina subsp. pseudosambucina Tenore 1815. And that could cause confusion with Dactylorhiza sambucina (L.) Soó 1755, but this species with the big leaves and the downwards pointing spur I didn’t encounter yet on Lesvos. (Even the Black Elder tree (Sambucus nigra) is not around on Lesvos, a pity, no Sambuca liquer, no marmalade, no wine or syrups from this tree.)

1-03-2010 #127, two D. romana, Palios. 16-03-2012 #054 same spot, only one’

So the only confusion that could remain is maybe its colour because Dactylorhiza romana is a plant with a lot of colours. Those colours are everything between white/yellow and red. These colour variations have (of course) also a name: for instance ‘sulphurea’ sulphur = greenish yellow; ‘incarnata’, flesh coloured and ‘bicolor’, two colours. What I missed in this list is ‘albiflora’ white blooming for the pure white species. I remembered having photographed a white and a bicolour version on a spot called Sarakina, a few hundred meters down the track to Palios and a hundred meters into the pine forest, two years ago. Then, two beautiful big Dactylorhiza romana were presenting themselves behind a fallen branch. And yes, one of them was today also present, not so big as last year, then 30 cm high, now a small 20 cm. But okay, it was there, but a bit lonely as I must say.

Dactylorhiza romana, Palios. © JvL 16-03-2012 #104

On the other side of the sea, in Turkey, just a few kilometres away, there are at least 12 species of Dactylorhiza growing (KREUTZ 1998). Oddly enough there are not many or even no Dactylorhiza left on Rhodes and Karpathos, but Crete still has them (KRETZSCHMAR 2004). The Roman Cuckoo Flower grows in abundance on Cyprus, but only the yellow variation (KREUTZ 2002). SALIARIS and DELFORGE discovered in 2007 (Natural. belges 88, Orchid. 20) that Dactylorhiza romana was present on Psara (the island on the north-west side of Chios) and/or Inousses (the island on the north-east coast, between Chios and Turkey) but absent on Chios itself KARATZAS (2008) produced on Lesvos 7 habitats for Dactylorhiza romana and a ‘White Roman’ (albiflora) variation in the south hills on the Gulf of Gera.

BOTTOM-LINE: I think that splitting up Dactylorhiza romana into varieties according to their ‘true colours’ is not opportune because all those colour variations are actually a characteristic of the Roman ‘Cuckoo’ Orchids; red, pink, yellow and white or two colours in the same flower: ‘bicolor’. So the ‘Romans’ are still on Lesvos, not only around Palios but for instance also above Mixou (Mychos) in the south of the island, above Klapados (Lafionas) in the north and high on the Prof. Ilias above Parakila in the west.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 20-03-2012.

Cyndi Lauper: ‘True colours’ live in Paris 1987:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=prwDgGYFTxc
or: www.youtube.com/watch?v=juiCRd5XllA

Habitat: Alifantá.

Ophrys sitiaca or Ophrys leucadica? Alifantá, 3-03-2012 #059.

Ophrys sitiaca H.F.Paulus, Ch. Alibertis & A. Alibertis 1988. Pseudophrys. The Ophrys (fusca) omegaifera group: on Lesvos for the time being only Ophrys sitiaca.

Ophrys leucadica Renz, 1928. Pseudophrys. The Ophrys fusca group: on Lesvos for the time being Ophrys calocaerina, Ophrys cinereophila and Ophrys leucadica.

REMARKS: The Ophrys fusca-lutea complex (= section pseudophrys) and the Ophrys oestrifera complex (section euophrys), are the two most difficult complexes of Orchids on Lesvos to distinguish. And I think not only on Lesvos… Before I write about the first flowering Ophrys of this fusca-lutea complex on Lesvos, Ophrys sitiaca above Alifantá, I first will make some remarks about this complex which has been driving me crazy for years now. And it is not only those Ophrys which are giving me headaches but also the constant changing of names and opinions about this complex. Let’s start 5 years ago, in 2007. I then started photographing the different species within the (at that time named) Ophrys fusca group. Today this group is called the Ophrys leucadica group after the ancestor Ophrys leucadica. In between there was a period of time that most orchidologists called this group of plants Ophrys fusca s.l.. (Sensu lato: ‘in the wide or broad sense of’). After Ophrys fusca was said to be a West-Mediterranean plant, you can call all those plants now of course Ophrys leucadica s.l. but that did not satisfy me. There are so many different forms inside this group that for instance DELFORGE (2005) decided to differentiate this whole pseudophrys (fusca-lutea) complex into 12 groups for Europe and ANTONOPOULOS (2009) made 6 groups for Greece: The iricolor group, the fusca group, the attaviria group, the blitopertha group, the lutea group and the omegaifera group. Okay, clear enough for me to determine those Ophrys here on Lesvos, I thought.

Omegaifera group (Ophrys sitiaca, 18-02-11); lutea group (Ophrys sicula, 26-02-12); fusca group (Ophrys leucadica, 27-03-10).

 Attaviria group (Ophrys attaviria, 27-03-10);  iricolor group (Ophrys iricolor, 5-04-09); blitopertha group (Ophrys blitopertha, 16-04-11).

But in these last 5 years I did not encounter a species of the omegaifera group on Lesvos except of course for Ophrys sitiaca, the earliest flowering species that also has (in most habitats on Lesvos) some of the characteristics of the other groups. And here the problems start because this Ophrys has the typical shallow V-shaped groove at the base of the lip whereas the other members of this omegaifera group have no V-shaped groove at all. Why then place this species in this group? And didn’t I hear rumors during the last months that there is actually no Ophrys sitiaca and no Ophrys leucadica on the island but that they are misidentified Ophrys pelinaea? “Tuf, tuf, tuf”, we say on Lesvos, maybe the same expression as “you must be joking” in English. Wasn’t Ophrys pelinaea said to flower late, in April and May? And didn’t have Ophrys pelinaea a large flower with a lip length between 13 and 20mm? And where can I find the ‘large, round middle lobe’ of pelinaea on ‘my’ sitiaca? Well, the sitiaca below are round in the sense that the lip folds down on the long axis, like a very tiny boxing glove and the side lobes are folded down under the lip. But there are more species in the fusca-lutea group whose lip look like a boxing glove. As for instance Ophrys leucadica and Ophrys cinereophila.

Above: Ophrys sitiaca, Alifantá, on 18-02-2011 (#041) and 3-03-2011 (#059 & #115).

In my opinion a lot of problems with identification in this ‘early’ fusca-lutea complex have to do with this species (Ophrys sitiaca) in hybridisation with members of the other groups, depending on the habitat (circumstances), the surrounding Ophrys and the pollinator. But there is one more reason for confusion: the time of flowering. Living on Lesvos for the last 10 years (also in the wintertime) I observed that there is, every year, a dramatic difference in flowering time due to weather conditions. The difference in flowering times (of the same orchid on the same habitat) between one year and another can be more than 5 weeks!

Ophrys sitiaca or leucadica? Alifanta, 3-03-2012 (#025 & #047), 22-03-2011 (#097).

BOTTOM LINE: Back to the two Ophrys I photographed above Alifantá a few days ago. If you compare those species with the ones from last year on exactly the same habitat and spot) you see that their lips are not so much folded down. They look more like Ophrys leucadica on the same spot last year, 3 weeks later, on 22-03-2011. Again I got confused, so I went back a few days later, after 2 days of rain. To my enjoyment they had now 3 flowers but I’ve noticed that their lips were more down folded than 3 days ago; so they looked more like Ophrys sitiaca this time! I think it’s time to take some boxing lessons! Maybe that I can recognize them better after a good ‘bang, bang’ against my head…

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 2012

Nancy Sinatra: ‘Bang Bang’ (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkKDSFYvxKU

Ophrys sitiaca x leucadica? Alifantá, 6-03-2012 #029

Habitat: Eftalou.

The first of 2012: 26-02-2012 #049 phrygana Eftalou, Ophrys phryganae? No, sicula!

Ophrys (lutea subsp) sicula Tineo 1846.
Ophrys lutea subsp. minor (Todaro) O. & E. Danesch.
The Ophrys (fusca -) lutea group. On Lesvos: Ophrys sicula & Ophrys phryganae.

Ophrys sicula, Eftalou, © JvL 26-02-2012 #047

HUNTING. Every year in February or March the first wild orchids arrive in the phrygana or 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. Here I live and work. Every year it is a surprise which orchid will arrive first, Ophrys sicula, Ophrys mammosa or Ophrys speculum (or synonym: Ophrys vernixia var. orientalis) and when: in the middle or end of February or in the beginning of March. This depends on the quantity of rain and sun in January and February. Actually there can be three weeks difference from one year to another. When they arrive in mid February it will be an ‘early’ year, when they arrive in March it will be a ‘late’ year. But today it is nearly the end of February and it feels already like spring. Everywhere you look now there are anemones in white, rose, red, purple and blue and red. But I am looking for orchids, not anemones. And I know of course where to look, this is my ‘home’ land; I walk here every day and every year eight to ten different orchids species occur. The rosettes are already getting small stems so it is now just a question of days before they will arrive.

Ophrys sicula, Eftalou, © JvL 13-03-2010 #026

Two years ago an Ophrys sicula next to an old almond tree, which had once been hit by lightning, won the race but not this year, because on this habitat they’re getting smaller and smaller every year. Last year the first sicula arrived a few weeks later, in the shelter of some old Funereal or Italian Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens). I’ve noticed for weeks now on the west end of the fields, in between hundreds of not yet flowering bushes Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum), a lot of very big rosettes of, I think, Ophrys sicula. And yes, today the first sicula is there! Only one, and not the one with the biggest rosette but one alongside a small path I cut through the Spanish Broom to reach some new habitats where I maybe could find new orchid species. Those fields here have not been ‘done’ the last 20 or more years. So I have to slam, chop, cut and saw myself a way through not only the Spanish, but also through the very Thorny Wooly Broom (Calycotome villosa), the Shaggy Cistus (Cistus creticus), prickly, wild olive trees, and the new growing, young pines; it’s really a wall there which you have to get through. But, there it is, the first orchid of 2012!

And this is an Ophrys sicula and not an Ophrys phrygana. With those big yellow borders of the lip, the almost horizontal standing flower (because the lip is NOT folded at the base), the tuft of hairs on the lip, the small upside down V on the tip of the lip and the metallic or blue shining blazon. I am sure, this is Ophrys sicula!

Ophrys sicula, same plant. © JvL 1-03-2009 #002 & 003.

RESEARCH. But to be sure, and perhaps for some new knowledge I went again through my Orchid books. I started ‘in the old days’ with SUNDERMANN (1980), ‘Europäische und mediterrane Orchideen’. In those days (without groups and complexes) Ophrys lutea had 2 subspecies: Ophrys lutea ssp. lutea CAVANILLES 1753 (big lip,15-20mm long), Ophrys lutea ssp. murbeckii (H. FLEISCHMANN) SOÓ 1927 (smaller lip, +-10mm, small, yellow sides), and two variations: var. melena RENZ 1928 p.ssp.) NELSON 1962 (almost brown) and var. flavescens (completely yellow). Sundermann’s photograph of Ophrys lutea ssp. murbeckii from Turkey (on p. 90) is in my opinion Ophrys (lutea subsp.) sicula from today.

First Ophrys sicula 2010 & 2011: 11-02-2010 #020 and 4-03-2011 #178

BOTTOM-LINE: It is all about names. On Lesvos (in the Eastern Mediterranean) there are two different species of the lutea group. The one species almost the same as Ophrys lutea but a lot smaller and with less yellow on the lip is Ophrys phryganae, blooming between the end of March/beginning of April until the end of April. The only other ‘yellow’ species which is flowering on Lesvos is Ophrys sicula, the former Ophrys lutea ssp. minor, galilaea, murbeckii, which blooms from the middle of February until the middle of May. And Ophrys sicula is abundant on Lesvos, Ophrys phryganae is more rare; until now I found it only on a few locations (Alifantá, Mixou, Mt. Spathi) in April.

Jan van Lent, Lesvos, 6-03-2012
Update: 18-08-2014

YELLOW:  Coldplay live in Sydney 2003.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYuyar-rrNY