 c 6 cm from lowest pt of lowest fl to tip of infl |
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Nature Notes - The Mallorca Pages
Orchidaceae other than Ophrys
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c 6 cm from lowest pt of lowest fl to tip of infl |
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Orchis longicornu, the Long-spurred Orchid. Found beside a
road through pine woods. Only seen once or twice.
 Inflorescence 7 cm high |
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Orchis tridentata, the Toothed Orchid. Seen twice I think,
once on a road verge and once in a shaded grassy area.
 Inflorescence c 7.3 cm high |
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Orchis mascula ssp olbiensis, the Early Purple Orchid. (The EPO's
in Britain are ssp mascula) Occasional on road verges with
some shade. Flower parts vary between purple and white; the right-hand
specimen is almost white-flowered, and was one of a population that intergraded
between purple and white flowers, and, independently, between heavily spotted
and unspotted leaves. The spotted leaves can be seen at the base of the
plant.
 Plant c 69 cm high |
 Central face-on flower c 2.7 cm high |
 Face-on flower c 2.7 cm high |
Barlia robertiana, the Giant Orchid. Most specimens were not particularly giant, but some were. The tallest I found was 69 cm, depicted on the left. I can say with some pride that that does not match the tallest Skye orchid, having once measured a Common Spotted Orchid here at 80 cm. The central picture shows a much shorter flower-spike than the first. Most specimens were somewhere between these two in size. The species was quite frequent in grassy places.
Note on orchids in general: the nine on this page and the Ophrys page were all the ones I saw in flower in Mallorca, but that is a remarkable total for such a short time and such a restricted area. There were all sorts of exciting things coming up in the forest that would have rewarded a slightly longer stay. I don't think any of the 9 taxa (treating EPO subspecies as distinct!) occur in Britain.
