Flora-Fauna

Serapias orientalis subsp. levantina (H.Baumann & Künkele) Kreutz

First published in Kompend. Eur. Orchid.: 138 (2004).

(Morphology: Delforge, Spanish account under Serapias levantina, p. 241; Lebanese distribution: Véla & Viglione, 2015.)

Description

Habit and leaves: Plant 16–30 cm tall, with the stem often tinged red. Leaves 4–8, lanceolate, somewhat acute, 3–15 cm long; the uppermost one or two much smaller and sheathing.

Inflorescence and bracts: Inflorescence loose, with 3–6(–10) flowers. Bracts 25–42 × 11–17 mm, equalling or exceeding the floral helmet and similarly coloured.

Flowers: Helmet grey-lilac, externally veined violet and dark red inside. Sepals 18–25 × 5–6 mm; petals somewhat shorter, 4.5–6.2 mm wide. Labellum 23–32 mm long, dark brownish-red, with two divergent violet basal lamellae and long, dense violet hairs centrally.

Labellum structure: Hypochile broadly kidney-shaped to inversely heart-shaped, 8.5–12 × 14–20 mm. Epichile oval-lanceolate, 14–25 × 8–12 mm, hanging down or curved backwards, flat or with reflexed margins.

Flowering and habitat

Flowering: Mainly March–April, occasionally beginning in February, according to Delforge’s account; described there as early-flowering.

Habitat and elevation: Delforge refers to habitat as in S. vomeracea and gives elevations up to 600 m, without a separate habitat description on that page. Véla & Viglione (2015) report Lebanese populations at low to middle elevations, reaching 1,100 m. These limits reflect different accounts.

Distribution

Lebanese distribution: Véla & Viglione (2015) cite Chekka, Yahchouch, Harissa, Broumana, Monteverde and Bolonia, among other central Lebanese localities.

Recorded locations: Kornet Chehwan, Bqaatouta, Kfertay, Baskinta.

Range of the narrower taxon: Delforge describes an eastern Mediterranean range from Cyprus and Hatay south to Jerusalem, with possible eastward occurrences towards Diyarbakır and Kurdistan. The eastern extension is explicitly uncertain in his account.

Native range — POWO’s broader treatment: POWO includes this subspecies within S. orientalis, whose native range is the central and eastern Mediterranean to the western Caucasus: Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Greece, Italy, Crete, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, northwestern Balkan Peninsula, Palestine, Sicily, Transcaucasus, Türkiye and European Türkiye. This broader species distribution is not assigned wholesale to subsp. levantina.

⚠️ Taxonomic note:

Serapias orientalis subsp. levantina (H.Baumann & Künkele) Kreutz is treated here at subspecies rank. The combination was published in Kompendium der Europäischen Orchideen: 138 (2004). Its basionym is S. levantina H.Baumann & Künkele, published in Mitteilungsblatt des Arbeitskreises Heimische Orchideen Baden-Württemberg 21(3): 766 (1989), with the original treatment on pp. 766–767.

Véla & Viglione proposed the alternative combination S. vomeracea subsp. levantina (H.Baumann & Künkele) Véla & Viglione in Acta Botanica Gallica: Botany Letters 162(4): 281 (2015). Their Lebanese revision interpreted the taxon as an eastern geographical counterpart of S. vomeracea, noting morphological affinities with western Mediterranean plants. This alternative placement is documented here but is not the name adopted for this entry.

POWO currently places both subspecific combinations in the synonymy of S. orientalis (Greuter) H.Baumann & Künkele. Recognition and placement of levantina therefore differ among treatments. The name retained here expresses the site’s chosen classification rather than a universal taxonomic consensus.

The morphology above is paraphrased from Delforge’s Spanish account of S. levantina, p. 241. Delforge describes a polymorphic, relatively cryptic taxon appearing intermediate between S. orientalis and S. vomeracea, and considers its variability, distribution and status in need of confirmation. Delforge gives a labellum length of 23–32 mm.

Mouterde’s older S. vomeracea treatment predates the recognition of levantina. Because later Lebanese work distinguishes taxa within this historical concept, its description and locality records are not automatically reassigned to this subspecies.

References:

IPNI: basionym and combinations; Véla & Viglione (2015); POWO: Serapias orientalis.