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BGORHIDEI-KN

Fam.  ORCHIDACEAE

Genus Ophrys L.

L. Gen. PI. ed. 1 (1737) 272.

The blossoms gathered in raceme. Perianth leaflets 5, unequal arranged. Three outer oval or oblong, blunt, both interior smaller, often hairy. Lip whole or tripartite, often convex and hunchbacked, goals or velvety fiber, with different drawing, in the basis with spur and a peak often yellowish or greenish and usually wrapped appendage back. Ginostemium short, often with little beak, become like bird's head. Stamen one. Polinel located in pockets. Plant with two oval or spherical tubers.

1   Lip tripartite, at the base with two small horns thin purple top, about 1 cm long. On top of the lip is a small yellowish or greenish wrapped back appendage. Perianth leaflets usually pink, velvet interior .................................................................................... 1. Horned ophrys - O. cornuta Stev.
1* Lip whole, at the base with two rounded and plum-colored bumps on top without appendage. Perianth leaflets greenish naked ................................................................................................................................................................... 2. Busen-ragwurz - O. mammosa Desf.
"Флора на НР България", том II, БАН, София, (1964),

All perianth leaflets spread; The 2 upper inner petals smaller than the other. The lip without spur, whole or tripartite, with larger middle share; pollen piles with handles hidden in two separate pockets. Ovary slightly curved. Plants with 2 underground tubers. Blossoms few, gathered in raceme.
1. Lip tripartite and the upper surface, the side with two small horns,. up to 1 cm long, slender horns; perigon side leaflets pink velvet interior …....................................................................................................................................................................................... (2) O. cornuta Stev.
1*. Lip almost entire; on its upper surface side with short shoots or without appendages; perigon side leaflets green, naked ......................................................................................................................................................................................... (1) O. aranifera Huds.

(1). O. aranifera Huds. (O. sphegodes Mill.) (Perennial) - In dry herbaceous and shrubby places; mostly on limestone (1). IV - V.
ssp. aranifera - Lip brown or reddish brown; without appendages or small growths. Lovech, Karlovo, Kalofer, Sliven.
ssp. atrata (Lindl.) Hay. (O. α. Lindl.) - Lip black violet, with two well-developed short appendages. Northeast Bulgaria (Razgrad, Varna, Shumensko) Central Balkan mountain. (Sevlievo) Middle Rhodopes (Asenovgrad, Bachkovo), Pirin mountain.
It is also a transition between the two subspecies - A. todaroana Macch. Asenovgradsko.
(2). O. cornuta Stev. (O. bicornis Sadl.) (Perennial) - Around bushes and lawns. more often calcareous rock. The whole Balkan mountain, Rhodope mountain (1). V - VI. Fig. 318.
„Флора на България”, Н. Стоянов, Б. Стефанов, Б. Китанов, Наука и Изкуство, София, (1966)

Note: According variety of publications in Bulgaria, there are two to five species of  Ophrys L. See also  www. B8 b. O. oestrifera group – Ophrys,

* * *

The genus Ophrys is a large group of orchids from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan.[2][3]
These plants are remarkable in that they successfully reproduce through pseudocopulation, that is, their flowers mimic female insects to such a degree that amorous males are fooled into mating with the flowers, thereby pollinating them. There are many natural hybrids.
They are referred to as the "bee orchids" due to the flowers of some species resemblance to the furry bodies of bees and other insects. Their scientific name Ophrys is the Greek word for "eyebrow", referring to the furry edges of the lips of several species.[4]

Ophrys was first mentioned in the book "Natural History" by Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD).

Biology

They are terrestrial or ground orchids from central to South Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, up to the Caucasus Mountains, but mostly in the Mediterranean region. They have been said to be the most important group of European terrestrial orchids.[5]
During summer, all Ophrys orchids are dormant as underground bulbous tubers, which serve as a food reserve. In late summer/autumn they develop a rosette of leaves. Also a new tuber starts to grow and matures until the following spring; the old tuber slowly dies. The next spring the flowering stem starts to grow. During flowering the leaves have already started to wither.[4]
Most Ophrys orchids are dependent on symbiotic fungi. Transplanting specimens, especially wild specimens, is difficult, sometimes impossible, due to this symbiosis unless a large amount of surrounding earth is also taken with the plant. All orchids are protected under CITES II and should not be removed or disturbed in habitat.
The shiny, basal leaves have a green or bluish color. Two to twelve flowers grow on an erect stem with basal leaves.[5] These species are successfully cultivated by specialist growers of terrestrial orchids and are reported to be difficult to grow, being sensitive to rotting and damping off diseases if not properly subjected to a cool and dry aestivation period over the summer months with no water.[4]

Pollination

Orchids of the genus Ophrys use sexual deception to attract pollinators to their flowers.[6] In sexual deception, an orchid attracts male pollinators by producing the sex pheromone of virgin female pollinators in addition to providing visual and tactile cues (Schiestl 2005; Schluter et al. 2009; Stokl et al. 2009). These signals stimulate mating behavior in the male pollinators, which then attempt copulation, called “pseudocopulation”, with the orchid labellum (Schluter et al. 2009). During pseudocopulation, pollen from the flower’s column becomes attached to some part of the pollinator, usually the head or abdomen, and the pollinator inadvertently carries and transfers this pollen to other flowers when they are once again enticed into pseudocopulation.[7][8][9] While the morphological cues such as the shape and texture of the labellum play a role especially at close range in inducing the pollinator mating behavior, the orchid’s pheromone mimic, or allomone, has been shown to play the most important role in enticing pollinators to the flower (Schiestl 2005; Schluter et al. 2009).[5]
The allomone produced by an orchid is specific to its pollinator, of which it usually only has one (Ayasse et al. 2007; Gogler et al. 2009, Schluter et al. 2009) . The allomone is a mixture of alkenes and alkanes (Schiestl and Cozzolino 2008). There are one or more active species in this mixture that account for the attraction of pollinators (Vereeken and Schiestl 2008). Pollinators and orchids use the same chemical compounds in the same absolute amounts in their pheromones and allomones, respectively (Schiestl 2008).
Every Ophrys orchid has its own pollinator insect and is completely dependent on this species for its survival. Duped males are less likely to return and may ignore other plants of the same species. Only about 10% of an Ophrys population gets pollinated. This is enough to preserve the population, since each Ophrys orchid produces about 12,000 minute seeds.[4]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

References: "Флора на НР България", том II, БАН, София, (1964), „Флора на България”, Н. Стоянов, Б. Стефанов, Б. Китанов, Наука и Изкуство, София, (1966), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Distribution in Bulgaria: (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.
Distribution:

SPECIES:

Ophrys oestrifera M.-Bieb. -x x x

Ophrys scolopax Cav. - x x x

 

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