John and Gerry's Orchids of Britain and Europe |
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Orchis anthropophora x italica |
O. anthropophora was first described from France in 1753 and until recently had been placed in a genus of its own, Aceras. The primary reason
for this isolation was cited as its lack of a spur but subsequent
molecular studies revealed that despite this, it was indeed an Orchis and
further, that it was very closely related to O. simia. The frequency of hybridization with O. simia and O. militaris
had already been noted and consequently the studies results really come
as no great surprise to the majority of botanists. Man Orchid (as it has
always been commonly known) is now reclassified within the eleven
strong O. militaris
group of Orchis.
O. italica or Naked Man Orchid is an extremely widespread and abundant Orchis, with a less northerly distribution than O. anthropophora,
it being centred on the Mediterranean. There is nonetheless a large
area of overlap from the Iberian peninsula through the Aegean to
Anatolia and beyond. The hybrid between these two species is formally named Orchis x bivonae and although by no means a rarity, is less common than O. anthropophora crosses with either O. militaris or O. simia (Orchis x spurium and Orchis x bergonii respectively).
The pictures come from Crete (6 & 7) and Malaga Province, Spain (1
to 5), the latter location being an area where this plant is frequently noted. As
can be seen from these illustrations, O x bivonae is quite variable, though a consistent feature is the
presence of an appendage between the lower secondary median
lobes. The pictures also serve to emphasize the tolerance of
greatly differing habitats with the Cretan specimens growing in full
sun, whilst the Spanish plants were growing in
heavy shade amongst damp pinewoods.
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