Ophrys apiferaHuds. - Bee orchid
Scientific Description:
Plants ± stout, 20–50(–70) cm. Stem ± leafy. Flowers 3–8(–14). Sepals large, 12–16 × 5–9 mm, spreading or reflexed, oblong, violet-rose or whitish, with green mid-vein. Petals triangular-ligulate, margins revolute, c. 5 mm, greenish or purplish, velvety. Labellum 3-lobed; lateral lobes forming villous cones; middle lobe convex, ± rectangular, margins recurved, dark red-brown, velvety, with glabrous, yellowish-green, deflexed appendix; speculum scutelliform, with yellowish margin, encircling a red-brown basal zone, extending laterally and apically. Column with 2–3 mm ± flexuous connective. Ovary much enlarged after flowering, erect. Mostly autogamous.
Flowering time: (April–)May–June.
Habitat: Grassy limestone hillsides, macchie, phrygana, meadows, roadsides, coniferous and deciduous forest, cemeteries, s.l.–750 m.
Reference:
Renz J & Taubenheim G (1984). Ophrys apifera Huds., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 8: 499.
Public Description:
Ophrys apifera, commonly known as “bee orchid”, is native to Europe, Türkiye, North Africa and the Middle East. It is a tuberous perennial herbaceous plant up to 70 cm tall with brownish-red with yellow flowers. Bee orchid grows on chalk, limestone, clays and calcareous sands and it blooms from April until well into July.
References:
Anonymous 1 (2017). https://wildseed.co.uk/species/view/240, Accessed date: 10.05.2017.
Anonymous 2 (2017). http://worldoffloweringplants.com/ophrys-apifera-huds/, Accessed date: 10.05.2017.
Deniz İG (2012). Ophrys L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 638–645.