SOME EUROPEAN ORCHIDS IN CULTIVATION

Jeffrey Wood

49 (in part). OPHRYS ARGOLICA subsp. ARGOLICA

This charming and distinctive orchid is recognised by the reddish-brown shield-shaped lip with dense white hairs on the shoulders and an often spectacle-shaped speculum. It was origi- nally described from Tirins (Tiryns) near Navplion, Argolis Province in the Greek Peloponnesus. 0. argolica is related to 0. ferrum-equinum Desf. from the eastern Mediterranean, and 0. crabronifera Mauri (formerly 0. exaltata auct. non Ten.) from Corsica and Italy. The reflexed sepals and petals and shield- shaped, mucronate lip with hairy shoulders are features common to all three taxa. 0. argolica is distinguished from 0. ferrum-equinum by its pubescent petals and reddish-brown lip. In 0. ferrum-equinum the petals are glabrous and the lip is blackish-purple. The shape of the speculum in 0. argolica and some populations of 0. crabronifera is often identical. Populations of 0. crabronifera from Corsica and Monte Argentario in western Italy, however, are distinguished from 0. argolica by their often green sepals and darker brown, distinctly convex lip. The lip of 0. argolica is flat or only slightly convex. There is, however, a striking resemblance betwen popula- tions of 0. crabronifera from Monte Gargano in south east Italy, previously described as 0. biscutella 0. & E. Danesch and 0. exaltata Ten. subsp. sundermannii Sob, and the Cyprian 0. argolica subsp. elegans (Renz) E. Nelson. This last plant replaces subsp. argolica in Cyprus and is generally smaller, with a three-lobed or subentire lip, the margin of the mid-lobe usually deflexed and similar to the Greek 0. ferrum-equinum subsp. gottjriediana (Renz) E. Nelson. Further research is required to explain the relationship between 0. argolica, 0. crabronifera and 0. ferrum-equinum.

The plant figured here was cultivated at Kew and comes from south of Arakhnainon in the Greek Peloponnesus. I t was growing in garigue scrub on a hillside with a south-west aspect on red-brown clay over limestone in association with Ophrys fusca Link and 0. lutea Cav.

CULTIVATION. Both 0. argolica and 0. oestrifera subsp. heldreichii, discussed below, succeed in a cool greenhouse with a minimum

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Plate 49

Ophrys argolica (left) 0. oestrgera subsp. heldreichii (right)

VALERIE PRICE

night temperature of 5°C. They are grown in plastic pots containing a compost of equal parts clay-loam, crushed grit a n d screened leaf-mould with a base dressing of dolomitic limestone. Bone meal with hoof a n d horn are applied during the growing season.

DESCRIPTION. A tuberous her6 ( lo-) 15-25( -50) cm high. Leaves 3-6 (- 18) cm long, 1-1.8(-2.5) cm wide, narrowly elliptic, obtuse and mucronate, or acute, 3-4(-6) in a basal rosette, 1-2 cauline, the upper bract-like, mid green. InJorescence erect, usually lax, (2-)4-8(- 10) flowered; peduncle 8-20 cm long, naked above; rhachis 4-15 cm long; floral bracts 1.5-3.5 cm long, leafy, narrowly elliptic, acute or cucullate, concave, somewhat tubular, green. Flowers faintly scented. Pedicel with ovary 1-2 cm long, green. Sepals 0.8-1.2(-1.5) cm long 0.4-0.8 cm wide, oblong, ovate or ovate-elliptic, obtuse, revolute, spreading to reflexed, purple-violet, lilac-pink, some- times whitish or greenish, mid-nerve green. Petals 0.6-0.8 cm long, 0.3- 0.5 cm wide, oblong-ovate or ovate-triangular, obtuse or acute, somctimcs slightly undulate, papillose or vclutinous, spreading or reflexcd, pale pinkish-violet, lilac or purple, sometimes brownish-violet. Lip (0.7-) 1.2 cm long (1-)1.3 cm wide, shield-shaped, suborbicular to ovate, flat or slightly convex, entire or occasionally subentire, apical appendage mucronate or sometimes larger and tridentate, lateral protruberances absent, vclutin- ous, usually reddish-brown, sometimes brown or blackish-violct, with dense whitish or yellowish hairs on the shoulders; speculum spectacle- or horseshoe-shaped, often reduced to 2 isolated spots, flecks or crescents, dull bluish-violet with a white border. Column 4-5 mm, cream, flushed lilac and green, with a broad or narrow brownish-purple transverse band inside; basal callosities greenish-black or dark olive-green; staminodal

Ophrys argolica. A, ovary, column and lip, side view, x 2; €3, column, front view, x 4; C, petal, x 4; D, dorsal sepal, X 2; E, lateral sepal, X 2; F 8t G , lips, front view, showing speculum variation, x 2.

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points reddish-brown, or absent; anther connective 1 mm long, apiculate, green.

DISTRIBUTION. Greece, Crete and Aegean Islands including Rhodes, southern Turkey, gariguc scrub, rocky pastures, open pinewoods, preferring calcareous soils; sea level - 800 m altitude.

Ophrys argolica Fleischm. apud Vierh. in Verh. Zoo1.-Bot. Ges. Wien, 69: 295 (1919); Nelson, Gcstaltwandel, 151, t. 5, fig. 1-3, t. 43, fig. 28-43 (1962); 0. & E. Danesch, Orch. Eur. Sudeuropa, 23, ti6 & 67 (1969); Hermjakob, Orch. Greece and Cyprus, 2 (1974); Sundermann, Europ. Medit. Orch., ed. 3: 117 (1980); Baumann & Kunkele, Die wildwachsen- den Orch. Eur., 192 (1982); Delforge & Tyteca, Guide des Orchidtes d'Europc, 123 (1984); Renz & Taubenheim in Davis, F1. Turkey, 487 (1984). Typc: Greece, Argolis, Tiryns, Hakicsy, Hayek &' Vierhapper s.n. (WU, holotype). 0. ferrum-equinum Desf. subsp. argolica (Fleischm.) So6 in Notizbl. Bot.

Cart. Berlin, 9: 907 (1926).

49 (in part). OPHRYS OESTRIFERA subsp. HELDREICHII

A springtime walk through an overgrown Cretan olive grove or across a scrubby hillside in southern Greece will more than likely produce the tall flamboyant spikes of 0. oestrifeera subsp. heldreichii. This subspecies was described, at specific level, in 1923 from collections made by Theodor von Heldreich on Crete in 1846, & Attiki (Attica), in south-eastern Greece in 1857.

The handsome flowers appear from March until May and are arranged in loose or rather dense spikes 8-25 cm long. The sepals are uniformly coloured rose-pink to lilac-purple and the smaller, pointed petals are usually a shade darker. The strongly convex, flask-shaped lip, resembling ancient Greek amphorae, measures 14-16 mm long and has a complicated speculum typical of several members of section FuczJorae Reichb.f., including 0. oestrifera M. Bieb., 0. scolopax Cav. and 0. umbilicata Desf.

Baumann and Kunkele (1982) distinguish 0. scolopax Cav. found in the western Mediterranean from the 0. oestrifera M. Bieb. complex from Italy and Yugoslavia eastwards. The criteria used to separate these taxa at specific level, using characters such as petal and lip length and the size of the horn-like lateral protruberances on the lip, are often unreliable since intermediate plants can always be found throughout the range. Three subspecies of 0. oestrzfera are recognised by Renz (1984), viz. subsp. oestrzfera (better known as

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