GOT International

STUNNERS IN THE WILD

The ultimate in seduction, and running wild on the Plain of Tranquillity, 1000 metres up the Montseny mountain

(Click on picture for an enlargement. Clicking again on the enlargement gives a full-screen blow-up)

This is probably one of the most amazing wild flowers to be seen anywhere. It’s the  Orphrys catalaunica, belonging to the genus Ophrys, a large group of terrestrial orchids popularly known as  bee orchids. And for good reason too – they  look like bees, feel like bees and even smell like sexually receptive  bees when they bloom. They are probably the ultimate in seduction, and run quite wild in highland meadows and grassland  in late spring.

GOT birders took time off last Saturday to scour terra firma, rather than  treetops and skies, in search of these marvels of nature, joining a large group of orchid-lovers led by Antoni Arrizabalaga, botanist and Director of the Granollers Museum of Natural Sciences, and biologists and orchid experts Meritxell Maymó  and Miquel Ranea, who served as guides.

     All set to hit the wild orchid trail from La Calma's carpark (altitude 900m), with museum director Antoni Arrizabalaga

                        (in red beret) and  orchid experts  Miquel Ranea  (left ) and Meritxell Maymó (right) leading the way.

The scene was the Pla de La Calma (Plain of Tranquillity) , an extensive plateau  1,000-odd metres up the Montseny mountain range, a vast Catalonian nature reserve. A narrow asphalt road took us from Figaro, a small town at the foot of the Montseny and just an hour’s train ride from Barcelona, to La Calma’s carpark – obligatory stop for all vehicles – in less than 15 minutes. From there it was rucksacks and mountain boots. 

      Making its mark in Catalonia, the Ophrys catalaunica, also known as the Abellera catalana (Catalonian beekeeper)

         A variant of the Catalonian beekeeper, with white petals and sepals instead of the usual purple.

 Late April and May are when these fabulous, chimerical blooms, with their velvet bodies and sculpted pink wings, abound, and Catalonia boasts of nearly 80 orchid species, of which 50 are found in the Montseny mountain range alone.  Easily among the more sought-after native species are the bee orchids, the most charismatic  being the Ophrys catalaunica, discovered here in 1968 by German botanists Othmar and Eleltraud Danesch, according to Meritxell Maymo in her book Les Orquídies del Montseny (The Orchids of Montseny). According to the author, eight other  beelike orchids species thrive in the Montseny:  the apifera, fusca, insectifera, lutea, passionis, scolopax,sphegodes  and subinsectifera.

Better-known in this country as the Abellera catalana (Catalonian beekeeper), the Ophrys catalaunica come in a variety of colours, natural hybrids within a species still in the process of evolution. Their  great sexual deception works very well indeed for the genus.  The visual lure of the labellum (the often enlarged petal or lip of the flower), the release of the seductive perfume identical to that secreted by female bees, and the furry, velvety beckoning surface combine to bamboozle male bumblebees and wasps into attempting to mate with it. As the male struggles enthusiastically and passionately with the lip,  pollen from the flower become attached to some part of the insect, usually the head or abdomen, and the pollinator inadvertently carries and transfers this pollen to another bee orchid  when it is once again enticed into another mating frenzy. 

    Ophrys lutea, drenched in the morning mountain dew -- the inflorescence (left) and detail (right)

Another Ophrys with a striking presence in La Calma is the Ophrys lutea or European Yellow Ophrys. Native to the Mediterranean region, this stunner adjusts its bag of tricks to attract only male Andrena bees,  one of most abundant  of all bee genera. The labellum of the yellow ophrys is modified to enable  the pollinating bees to sit on it facing away from the pollinia, where the pollen is stored, instead of facing towards it, and thus collect the pollen with their abdomen.

         From deep purple to white, the Orchis picta unveils its range of colours in the thicket and grassland  of La Calma

 The genus Orchis are characterised by their deep purple, helmet-shaped flowers that grow in a bunch at the top of a single stalk,  but the inflorescence may often display colours ranging from white, through pink and  yellow,  to deep purple.The genus are also identified by the prominent green, and occasionally purple, veins which extend laterally like wings on the flower. The Orchis picta is a subspecies of, and looks remarkablly like, the Orchis morio or Green-veined orchid, but is more slender and more graceful than the latter, with a centre that is more whitish. Like the Ophrys, pollination is carried out by bumblebees and other insects. Orchis plants are more abundant than Ophrys and prosper in wasteland, moorland, meadows and  thickets.

          In full inflorescence, the Orchis ustaleta  (left) and the  Orchis olbiensis (right)

The Orchis Ustulata is a delightful little grassland orchid, one of the most common orchids found in the mountains of Europe. Better known as the Burnt orchid, on account of the dark colouration of the hood of its inflorescence, it is a widespread orchid with a range that takes it from the Mediterranean right up to Sweden and across to western Siberia. Pollinating the Burnt orchids also happens to be the preserve of one particular species of fly.

The Orchis olbiensis or Southern Early Purple orchid is a  small orchid, often found in clusters of purple, pink and white.  The stem sometimes appears flushed with purple. It can be easily mistaken for a light-coloured Orchis mascula, but is distinguished by a strongly upturned spur, a tubular extension protruding  behind the flower, often from the labellum or lip. On some wild orchids, though not on the olbiensis, the spur contains nectar.

        Standing tall, the Orchis anthropophora (left) and the elusive Orchis intacta (right)

There is no mistaking the orchis anthropophora, the Man orchid -- its flowers resemble the human figure, with the head  formed by the petals and sepals, and the suspended torso and limbs by the lobes of the labellum or lip. The Catalan name is even more colourful: Flor de l’home penjat (flower of the hanging man). The orchid’s inflorescence is characterised by a relatively thick flower spike bearing up to fifty small, stemless flowers varying in colour from greenish, with a yellow-green labellum, to green, streaked and marked with purple.

Looking like the Man orchid is the Orchis intacta, whose flowers resemble the human form somewhat. The intacta is also called the Dense Flowered orchid – the inflorescence is indeed densely packed with pinkish flowers which exude a faint vanilla scent. It grows in very rough grassland and, as a consequence,  is very difficult to spot. You have to really hunt for it if you want to see one.

              Pink and purple Orchis mascula (left) and white Orchis provincialis(right)

Not very common in the Montseny is the Orchis mascula or Early Purple orchid (not to be confused with the South Early Purple mentioned earlier). Its inflorescence is a spike of typically purplish or pinkish flowers which gives off a smell that is rather unpleasant. It is also claimed to have medicinal as well as culinary properties.

Another rarity in the Montseny is the Orchis provincialis or Provence orchid.  Provincialis is Latin for Provence,  a region in the south of France, where the species was first detected.

      The elegant Planthera bifolia, distinguished by the parallel shape of its pollinia, the agglutinated  body of pollen grains...

     ...and the almost identical Platanthera chlorantha, identified by the shape of its pollinia, which is triangular in shape

Only two members of the genus Platanthera, close relative of the genus Orchis, are found in the Montseny – the Platanthera bifolia and the Platanthera chlorantha. Both the Platantheras (Greek for broad anthers, the pollen bearing parts of the stamen) are commonly referred to as Butterfly orchids. The species bifolia (meaning ‘two leaves’) is the Lesser Butterfly-orchid, while the species chlorantha (meaning green-flowered) is the Greater Butterfly-orchid. The flowers look very much alike and it’s quite difficult for a non-expert to tell them apart.

The flowers of  both Platantheras are night-scented, and attract certain types of moths with night-vision good enough to see pick out the white flowers in the dark. The scent of the Lesser Butterfly-orchid however is different from that of Greater Butterfly-orchid, which attracts different pollinators

                Coeloglossum viride (left)  and Serapias lingua (right)

The Coeloglossum viride, commonly known as the Long-Bracted Green Orchid, is a rather inconspicuous  plant. You’d walk right past it and not realize it’s an orchid. That’s because the flowers are green and the plant tends to merge with the background vegetation and become part of it. Often, however, the flowers are tinged with purple or red-brown. This is one orchid that produces nectar and thus enjoys the services of a very large number of pollinators including bees, wasps, ants, beetles, flies and even nocturnal moths.

Quite a different orchid is the Serapias lingua, commonly known as the Tongue Orchid, whose flowers form a sort of tube used by insects to seek shelter. The orchid gets its name from the similarity of the labellum to a stuck-out tongue. It is a slender orchid with a sparse inflorescence made up of whitish to deep purple flowers with embossed dark veins running over them.

       The Cephalanthera longifolia (left) and an Anacamptis piramidalis in full bud (right)

This is the Cephalanthera longifolia or Sword-leaved Helleborine, and is common in Spain and southern France, but endangered elsewhere in north Europe. The long, narrow tapering leaves give the plant its common name. It is a white-flowered orchid with an orange spot on lower petal when in bloom.

And finally, a young  Anacamptis pyramidalis or Pyramidal Orchid spotted by a sharp-eyed enthusiast at La Calma. When the flowers appear, they are arranged in a distinctive pyramidal shape which gives the orchid is common name. The colour  varies from pink to purple.      

Written by Abul Fazil                                       Orchid photos by Quico Fernàndez Espinàs & Abul Fazil