Orchidaceae
Ophrys

Ophrys scolopax Cav.

First published in Icon. 2: 46 (1793)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Hungary, Medit. to N. Iran, Turkmenistan (SW. Kopet Da.). It is a tuberous geophyte and grows primarily in the subtropical biome.

Descriptions

Distribution

Throughout most of the Mediterranean and further east to the Crimea, Iran and the Caucasus. It seems absent from Cyprus and some other islands as well as from the Mediterranean coast of the Levant. In the northeast, it reaches Hungary and Rumania. [Aeg, Alb, Bal, Bul, Cor, Cre, Fra, Gre, Hun, Ita, Por, Rum, Sar, Sic, Spa, Tur, Ukr, Yug; Ana, Mor, Tun]

Habitat

Dry as well as moist soil in full sunlight to light shade, from sea level to 2000 m altitude. Typical habitats include roadside slopes, garrigue, open pine and oak woods, grassland and olive groves that are run without application of fertiliser, pesticides and mechanical treatment of the soil.

General Description

Plant slender, 10-50(-90) cm tall with 2-15(-21) flowers in a lax spike. Sepals violet to white or green, (ob)ovate to elliptic (less frequently lanceolate-oblong), 7-16 × 3-10 mm; dorsal sepal flat to shallowly boatshaped, more or less incurved, from the base reflexed. Petals violet to rose-coloured or green, triangular to triangular-lanceolate or linear (sometimes auriculate) with reflexed margins, 1.5-8 × 0.8-4 mm, shaggy, spreading to slightly recurved. Lip with (reddish) brown to dark brown ground colour, straight with strongly recurved sides, deeply three-lobed close to the base, 6-16 × 6-20(-30) mm, brownish shaggy on the outer side of the side lobes and velvety along the margin of the mid-lobe (otherwise nearly glabrous); side lobes converted into obliquely conical to horn-like bulges; mid-lobe of varying length in relation to the side lobes, obtuse to rounded, provided with a broad and conspicuous, erect (to porrect), rectangular, rhomboid or (ob)triangular, often dentate appendage; mirror distinct, consisting of an H- or X-shaped to considerably more complicated (rarely simpler) figure, the basal arms of which are connected to the base of the lip, dull greyish blue to violet (rarely reddish brown) with an (often broad) cream border. Column acute to obtuse, not tapering towards the base (in side view); stigmatic cavity at least as wide as long and approximately twice as wide as the anther, with dark (rarely pale), lateral, eye-like knobs at base.

[O-EM]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Orchideae: e-monocot.org

    • All Rights Reserved