Orchids Spring 2009

[Oron Peri]

Thanks Miriam,

Tony, bloom starts according to the elevation, plants at 300-500  start to flower 3-4 weeks before the ones at 700-1000m.
That gives us the opportunity to enjoy some species over a long period.
For example  the first Hyacinths orientalis i sow this year was at the end of November at 750m, while last week i have seen it only starting to flower on Mt. Hermon at 1700m [that is four months later..].
By the way Dactylorhiza romana is extremely rare here, there are only 2 colonies having the total of 20-40 plants!!!
 It grows abundantly in Cyprus.

[Hristo]

Hi Tony,
Your Dactylorhiza is D.sulphurea pseudosambucina or D.romana is ok too. D.sambucina and D.romana are separate species.
As an add on the pics I first posted here of D.sambucina were in fact a mixed colour population of D.romana, in Bulgaria only pink ( so far ) and in Orons' area only yellow.

[Joakim B]

Hi here is some input from Sweden. No dactylorhizas visable and only the buds of the Cypripedium.

The older more interesting input comes from Portugal where I went on an excursion with the APO (Portuguese association of Orchidophiles) to the Serra de Aires some 120 km North of Lisbon. It was on the fourth of April 4/4.
We visited several places and had people with local knowledge with us as well as orchid experts. All is a nature protected land.

The first stop was on the planes and we walked along a gravel road and just went of to see the plants.
There was a lot of Barley Robertiana but most were after their prime.
I also saw my first ever Ophrys It was Ophrys lutea that grew in most of the places we visited.
Next we saw one (1) Aceras anthropophorum (Orchis anthropophora) later in the next place we also saw 1 but in the fourth and fifth places we saw a lot.
Then they discovered a second type of Ophrys wich they called O. vernixia. In the book by author who joined us it is also listed as O. speculum subsp lusitanica but he called it vernixia.
There we also saw some Orchis mascula.
On the way back to the car we saw Iris germanica var florentina or I. albicans. Actually looked almost like a mix but due to branching I went for the first. By the parked car was also some muscari.
EDIT LATER we saw Ophrys tenthredinifera close to the Ophrys vernixia.

To be continued

[Joakim B]

The trip from the first to the second place was lovely with a lot of Barlia and Orchis both italica and mascula in several colours along the way. This was orchid spotting from the car.
The second place was similar in apperance to the first but a bit more inclination.

Here we saw Orchis champagneuxii and it has a devine colour of much darker purple than I have seen on orchids before.
I have 2 pics of it one to show the flower and the other to show the colour since my camera (Olympus my) often gives better colour for the blue purple when I am aiming on the side.
We also saw a lot of Orchis papilionacea in bud but none open. The Orchis conica was all overbloomed except one that was on the other side of the road where we saw some more mascula. All the mascula had plain foliage but the ones in Coimbra had spotted.
Below was also some Ophrys lutea and Ophrys that they called speculum that in the book is called O. ciliata.
The difference from vernixi is that vernixi goues out in the botom while speculum goes in. A bit like male and female in humans so to say.
Going down in the valey we saw more Orchis italica and 1 O. conica. There were plenty of Ophrys lutea and maybe one-two more speculum.
Here we also saw some narcissus (posted in the narcissus thread) and on the way back we saw some Paeonia broteroi (posted in the paeonia thread).I also climbed the lose rocks to see more paeonnias and her I saw a narcissus and a Aceras anthropophorum. There was also a very white Orchis italica but a little light pink obn the back stopped it from being true alba.
We were collected by the others and continued.

[Joakim B]

We contined on a road that had moutain on one side and nothing on the other for a while. Here we saw a lot of orchids growing in the mountain crevises.
We stopped and saw some Neotinea maculata. on this specimen the foliage is very spotted. The flowers are very small but the spike was tall so I had to take it in two pictures
We also saw some scilla and other bulbs here.
At this time we had lost half the people they went back to Lisbon. (Their great loss I would say since there is more treasures to see)

[Joakim B]

On the fourth stop my oldest son was sleeping so I had the Younger on my shoulders and my wife waited in the car.
Taking photos with 12 kg extra on Your shoulders are not the easiest but possible.
Here we vent in to a valley and saw some Cephalanthera longifolia. They were in two groups of two (total 4).
We also saw Aceras anthropophorum in some numbers here.
We also saw 1 iris here see the iris thread.

[Joakim B]

I presume You all realised that it was the same three Aceras anthropophorum I took picture of.
The fifth stopped was a clearing close to a village.
Here it was a lot of bubs muscary of different apperance but also the iris.
We saw here a lot of Aceras anthropophorum and some "fat" O. italica and a readhead as well.
The main show here was the Limodorum (abortivum). I presume it is this species since it look like this but only the first part of the name was used.

[Hristo]

Hi Joakim,
Thanks for the guided tour, so many species on a day trip!

[Joakim B]

The last part of the trip went to the guide who showed his orchid house and his lovely garden.
Defenately my kind of garden. We saw here the foliage of Ophrys apifera (the owner had seen the bloom in his lawn) and Epipactis tremolsi identified on the rounder foliage compared to lusitanica. The Epipactis grows in more woodlike condition. We also saw two Limodorum that was not open and most likely one of them never opens so it is self-polinated.
The owner had selvaged some orchids when a garage was built and they were in pots. There was a blooming Orchis papilionacea.

After this tea and cake. It was a super day and I enjoyed it a lot.
There is an older travel account from this mountains in places to visit.
I am a bit surpriced that we did not see any Ophrys hybrids considering they were blooming so close together. They they had different colour and may not have the same polinator. There was no other hybrids amongst the Orchis either even though these are known.
To be cruel it was no dactylorhiza or even buds of cyripedium so at least of the latter there were more in my garden.
I presume that we would only have visited the first two places without the guides if even that many. It was great pleasure to have so many people with knowledge and interest to spread it around.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Joakim B]

Hristo just paying back after having enjoyed so many other expeditions by the contributers here.
We did go around a bit to see this and it was a full day from 9 to 9 inccluding the 90 minutes trip bacjk and forth from Lisbon. 4 Ophrys and 5-6 Orchis Barlia and Cephalanthera longifolia and the special Limodorum and to that some more in foliage was very good. Not having the local knowledge we would have found Ophrys lutea, Barlia, Orchis italica and mascula. From before I had seen only Orchis mascula and Aceras anthropophorum. I was a bit surprised that we did not see more of the latter. We did see it in 4 places but only in one was it a lot of it.
Local knowledge is vital to see the things one wants to see.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Paul T]

Wonderful, wonderful pics everyone.  The Ophrys, the Dactylorhiza, the Serapias..... I think I've died and gone to heaven.  So many things I get to see here that I've never seen before.  Thanks All!!

[Anthony Darby]

Here is my Orchis purpurea blooming in the greenhouse. A far more robust orchid than I expected!

[Hristo]

Hi Anthony,
Nicely flowered given your northerly location, I am intrigued, do you grow under lights? Also wondering when this first showed above ground  for you, here there is no sign of the nose until late February as the snows begin to clear.

[Anthony Darby]

Not grown under lights, just in a frost free greenhouse. As with Anacamptis pyramidalis and Orchis mascula, they are winter green, with leaves appearing in November. I have mascula outside, where it is flowering now, and am trying one pyramidalis up against the house wall in the red granite chippings. It has survived the winter. The others are nearly out in the greenhouse.

[Hristo]

Cheers Anthony, very interesting and super to hear you are trying them outside!