the half being yesterday's Pyramidal Orchid [Anacamptis pyrimidalis]Orchis pyramidal...
I had the chance to mow the verger [orchard] and on the second tour round with Betsy I noticed something pink lying at the side of the previous cut...
AAAAARGH!
I'd cut down an Orchid...
so, sadly, here it is... in a vase!!
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| Goes well with the repro Art Nouveau lamp! |
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| The first bend in the stem isn't moving... but the growing tip is trying to compensate... |
You can see, from the curve of the stem, that it was probably lying on it's side... having been trapped under the windblown grass. As with all the new orchids seen this year, it is in an area that is, normally, regularly mown...
I know roughly where it must have been cut from... somewhere between the Quetsch and the Mirabelle... so after a late cut this Autumn, I shall go looking for rosettes!!
The other species which wasn't spotted when I made the previous entry is a Bee Orchid [Ophrys apifera] Ophrys abielle along by the front fence...
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| As you can see... clearly marked! |
It is interesting to observe orchids on your own patch as you can watch the same one day after day...
from that ability for a period of observation....
I now know that, for the Ophrys orchids....
the next flower does not open until the previous one has "gone over"....
this avoids self-pollination completely!!
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| The lower flower is the new one in the previous picture... just one left to open! |
"Your observation of the Bee Orchid pollenisation is not quite right for the plant generally.So, although the Bee Orchid appears to have a mechanism to avoid self-pollination...
They often have multiple flowers open at once and frequently self pollinate.
They have a window of about 6 hours, after which they panic if they haven't been insect pollinated, and self pollinate.
They are the only Ophrys that behaves like this."
they make damned sure they reproduce if no one calls!!
The Pyramidal and the Greater Butterfly orchids were found on land that, until nine years ago, had been worked... the last crop was sunflowers in 2002 and Richard ploughed and sparingly sowed an unspecified grass mix on it in September 2004.
Since then, it has been left to its own devices... and Mother Nature!
3 comments:
Lovely new find. I have a patch of Pyramidals in the orchard which is multiplying slowly, and this year two new plants many metres away (one of which I stood on and well and truly squashed). The leaf rosettes appear well after the first Ophrys rosettes. Probably your best time to start looking is Feb-Mar. The good thing about orchids is that you can mow them for years and they don't die, just don't reproduce (or barely, in a good year if they can manage more than one rhizome).
Your observation of the Bee Orchid pollenisation is not quite right for the plant generally. They often have multiple flowers open at once and frequently self pollinate. They have a window of about 6 hours, after which they panic if they haven't been insect pollinated, and self pollinate. They are the only Ophrys that behaves like this.
Thanks Susan... I'll add the pollination bit to the body of the post.
Iteresting observations and lovely pics as usual.
I'm teaching pollination and fertilisation at the moment, so I can add the bit Susan mentioned to my discussions.
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