Family |
Orchidaceae
Ophrys apifera
Huds.
Ophrys apifera Huds.
First published in Fl. Angl.: 340 (1762).
(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1, p. 333, Pl. CIX, 5; 1966)
Description
Life-form & habit: Perennial with nearly spherical or ovoid tubers. Stem erect, cylindrical and smooth, 20–60 cm tall, enclosed by leaf sheaths beyond its middle.
Leaves: Three or four basal leaves, up to 20 cm long, and four to seven stem leaves. Bracts light green, the lower ones equalling or exceeding the flowers.
Inflorescence & flowers: Ovary cylindrical and hairless. Sepals oblong, pink with a green midvein, up to 15 mm long. Petals spreading to ascending, heart-shaped, dark green or tinged red, 3–6 mm long. Lip oval, about 11 × 10 mm, deeply three-lobed in its lower third, dark brown and velvety, with two small basal side projections. Its central hairless orange-brown patch is outlined in yellow, with additional symmetrical markings around two greyish patches. Side lobes short and brown-velvety; middle lobe almost circular, strongly convex, with an inrolled yellow-green margin and a green to yellow-green terminal appendage bent inwards. Column erect, about two-and-a-half times the petal length, ending in a rostellum up to 2 mm long.
Flowering and habitat
Phenology: March–June.
Habitat & elevation: More or less wooded places; localised in Mouterde’s account.
Distribution
Lebanese distribution: Saida, Wadi Rejem above Khalde–Naame, Beirut, Ras Chekka, Qoubbariye, Aley, below Bhamdoun and below Baabdat.
Recorded locations: Kornet Chehwan.
Native range: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Baleares, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe.