OPHRYS FUSCA subsp CINEREOPHILA

Family and Genus:- See- ORCHIDACEAE

Common Names:-

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ophrys Cinereophila

Meaning:- Ophrys (L) Eye-brow, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny.

Cinereophila (L) Ashen, ash-coloured.

General description:- Short to medium perennial,

Stem:-

1) To 35 cm tall.

Leaves:-

1) Usually in a basal rosette.

Flowers:-

1) Small, 2-8 flowered, and spirally arranged in a long inflorescence occupying at

least 1/3 of the stem.

2) Sepals, green-whitish.

3) Petals, yellowish.

4) Labellum, small-medium, densely pilose, dark brown, margins with a yellow or

yellow-greenish contour, asymetric, 3-lobed, convex, longitudinally and

transversally, with a disecernible sinus of the lobes and an often genticulate

base, with two parallel, protruberances and a dividing deep gorge between them.

a) lateral lobes usually folded.

b) median lobe, curved.

5) Speculum, that approaches the sinus of the lobes,without a dividing channel,

blue-blackish, with two crescents at the top that form a bluish somewhat blurry

"W" at times with a concentric zone

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, dehiscing by 3 or 6 longitudinal slits.

2) Seeds, numerous, minute, with undifferentiated embryo and no endosperm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry open shrubby vegetation, in seasonally damp spots, olive groves and

fallow terraces. 0-1100 m.

Distribution:- Common on all the Greek islands. Fairly widespread on Crete.

Flowering time:- Early Mar to early May.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis