Spiranthes aestivalis, on Tuesday. I never knew I'm just 20 minutes from one of the spots they yet live. Unfortunately lack of wetlands protection likely means they'll go extinct soon, certainly in Austria - pictures on a farmer's meadow with little protection.
Here's a collage of 40 of the species of orchid we found on Crete during the first week of April, 2024. Almost all of them were new to me. It took me until now to sort through pictures - we found even more species, but some were not in bloom yet and for some our pictures are not good enough to determine species with certainty. But these are the 40 with at least one good enough picture 😀 #inaturalist#wildorchids#wildflowers@wildorchids
Ophrys incubacea, on April 25th, 2024 in Premantura, Croatia. They look similar to sphegodes but are easily distinguished by the long scruffy hair. Which made me immediately fall in love with them, they looked like they just hatched to me! They also appear rather dark, giving them the German name "Schwarze Ragwurz" or "black bee orchid"!
Ophrys bertolinii on April 25th, 2024, on Cape Kamenjak. It's one of my instant favorite ophrys species - somehow these flowers manage to have a small metallic looking shield 😮
On the weekend, on an orchid hunting trip with a friend, we stopped the car at a random spot along the road in Carinthia. He was better prepared than me and just walked through a stream with rubber boots while I was contemplating if/how to cross, when he called and said I better come see this. A mossy patch, next to a stream, with 150-200 Neottia cordata. Not a species we expected to find at all, but a definite highlight of the trip! (And worth the slight injuries I obtained when jumping across the stream onto slippery rock...) #wildorchids@wildorchids#inaturalist#bloomscrolling#wildflower
Time of the small green orchids! Herminium monorchis, Liparis loeselii, and Malaxis monophyllos. In addition to being hard to notice all three sadly share habitat loss and are very rare now in Austria.
Orchis pyramidalis. The first two pictures are from yesterday, in Germany, close to where I live. The other two pictures are from two months ago, in Crete. I find it interesting how different the same species can look. #wildorchids#inaturalist#wildflowers@wildorchids
@wildorchids
Die wissenschaftlichen Namen in der Botanik sind übrigens kein echtes Latein. Das kleine Knabenkraut, hier in eine Albinovariante gezeigt, heißt Anacamptis morio. Der Name kommt von dem griechischen (!) Wort "moros", das heißt "Narr". Die Blüte erinnert an eine Narrenkappe. #Naturbeobachtung#orchideen#flowersofmastodon
@wildorchids
Viele heimische #orchideen kommen auch in einer weißen Form vor, ähnlich dem Albino bei Menschen.
Hier gezeigt das Kleine Knabenkraut, lat. Anacamptis morio var. albiflora.
Nur wenige Exemplare auf dieser Orchideenwiese zeigten eine farbliche Abweichung. #Naturbeobachtung#orchids#flowersofmastodon