Monday, June 10, 2013

A new location of the Orchis italica (naked man orchid).


A new location of the Orchis italica in the Cistierna area (province of León).

Introduction.

The Orchis italica is a Mediterranean orchid whose distribution is mainly located in the southern half of Spain, while in the north of Spain their are only two known territories (see map). Two weeks ago I found three specimens of Orchis italica in the neighbourhood of Cistierna, situated between those northern territories and indicated on the map by the blue rectangle.

Characteristics of the Orchis italica.

The Orchis italica is known in English as the naked man orchid, due to the form of the individual flowers which resemble a naked male form. The spike is very densely packed with flowers of a purple-pink-whitish colour. The petals and sepals are all curved upwards forming a kind of helmet covering the column. The lip is long and has the shape of a man, with arms, legs and a third protuberance. The colour of the spur is somewhat lighter than the rest of the flower and this spur is short, thick and slightly curved downwards. The bracts are short compared to the ovary. The leaves are corrugated and may have some purple-brown spots.
The orchids I have found were all located on more or less shady places between the bushes, but they also occur on sunny grasslands.

READ FURTHER AND ENJOY THE PHOTOS.




Distribution of the Orchis italica in Spain, adapted from a map taken from the excellent Spanish orchid site Orquídeas Ibéricas. The new location is indicated by the blue rectangle.




The first orchid some 2 weeks ago, at the end of May.




The inflorescence of the Orchis italica.




Part of the inflorescence of the naked man orchid. The flowers are very close together, which is typical.




This photo shows a individual flower, you can imagine why it is called the naked man orchid.




The corrugation of the leaves is very characteristic for this orchid.




The second orchid is not far away from the first, but is very well hidden between the bushes. This one has some purple brownish spots.




The first orchid from a different angle.




From this angle the small bracts and the short thick spurs are very good visible.




The third orchid was located on another spot, after a search of a long afternoon.



The first orchid some 10 days later, the spike has lengthened a bit and the flowers are not so very close together anymore.




Part of the inflorescence 10 days later.


20 comments:

  1. Wat een prachtige Orchis. Groet Annemarie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hallo Annemarie, dat is ie zeker, hè.

      Groetjes, Marius

      Delete
  2. Prachtige serie van de wilde Orchidee.
    Zo vind je ze hier niet.
    Groetjes Irma

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hallo Irma, en dan die manier waarop de bloemen uitwaaieren van de bloemstengel en iets flodderigs aan de orchidee geven.

      Groetjes, Marius

      Delete
  3. Wow, dit is echt een mooie, Orchis italica!
    Je boft maar met al dat moois in het warme zuiden!

    Groet,
    Willy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hallo Willy, ja zeker, hoewel het warme zuiden tot voor enkele dagen abnormaal koud was voor de tijd van het jaar.

      Groetjes, Marius

      Delete
  4. Deze orchis komt mooi uit Marius.
    Hij heeft ook een heel mooi gestreept blad.
    Mooi fijntjes.
    groetjes, Helma

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hallo Helma, en dan de manier waarop de bladeren gekarteld zijn, voor de orchideeën van onze streek volkomen uniek.

      Groetjes, Marius

      Delete
  5. Always a great pleasure to visit your blog!
    Congratulations for your excellent work!
    In fact, I believe it is more than a job: it's a lifestyle! Wonderful!
    Kisses from Brazil

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Helô, when you love what you´re doing its much easier. Thank for the compliments.

    Big kiss from Spain.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Replies
    1. Bedankt Frik, maar in het echt zijn ze toch nóg mooier!!

      Delete
  8. Can this Orchid be grown in South West Southern Florida. USA? Where can we buy them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Becky, it´s a Mediterrenean wild orchid, so I don´t know if it´s posible to get them. It is certainly forbidden to take them out of the wild.

      greetings

      Delete
  9. Wow, those are amazing! Beautiful photos and helpful information.
    Thank you,
    Shari

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Shari, I am glad I could give some interesting info.

      Greetings

      Delete
  10. I want some of these! Too bad I live in Indiana, USA. Beautiful photos by the way!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Julia, but in the USA you also have a lot of beautiful wild orchids!!!

      Greetings

      Delete
  11. Nice pictures of Orchis italica. But somebody is using one of the pictures for his eBay auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORCHIS-ITALICA-ORCHID-TUBER-NAKED-MAN-TERRESTRIAL-AMAZING-BLOOM-DORMANT-/262906613420?hash=item3d36748eac:g:K3wAAOSwXYtY0zP1

    ReplyDelete
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