O.apifera was
first described by Hudson from England as far back as 1762. Its name refers to the flowers resemblance
to a bee and accordingly the species has long
been commonly (and not a little affectionately) known
as the Bee Orchid.
It's a widespread orchid with a distribution across temperate and Mediterranean Europe as far east as the Caucasus. In its favoured locations it can be abundant and its choice of habitat is wide, ranging from the driest chalk grassland and garrigue to wet even swampy conditions. It predominently favours full sun positions but will tolerate (though not relish) even significant shade. O.apifera is largely self-pollinating and this autogamy seems responsible for the frequent appearance of variant plants, some of which, although not of evolutionary significance occur on a sufficiently regular basis to have aquired formal varietal status.
O. apifera var. fulvofusca is an uncommon variety found throughout the range of the nminate species but has rarely been recorded in the UK. The lip has completely lost its specular markings and appears as a uniform brown though as can be seen from the photograph, the basal field is still vaguely visible as a marginally lighter shade of brown.
The photograph was taken in southern England where it was found growing alongside the similar O. apifera var. atrofusca and dates from the end of June.
It's a widespread orchid with a distribution across temperate and Mediterranean Europe as far east as the Caucasus. In its favoured locations it can be abundant and its choice of habitat is wide, ranging from the driest chalk grassland and garrigue to wet even swampy conditions. It predominently favours full sun positions but will tolerate (though not relish) even significant shade. O.apifera is largely self-pollinating and this autogamy seems responsible for the frequent appearance of variant plants, some of which, although not of evolutionary significance occur on a sufficiently regular basis to have aquired formal varietal status.
O. apifera var. fulvofusca is an uncommon variety found throughout the range of the nminate species but has rarely been recorded in the UK. The lip has completely lost its specular markings and appears as a uniform brown though as can be seen from the photograph, the basal field is still vaguely visible as a marginally lighter shade of brown.
The photograph was taken in southern England where it was found growing alongside the similar O. apifera var. atrofusca and dates from the end of June.
