O. hippocratis was first described by Delforge from Kos, Greece in 2009 and its name refers to Hippocrates the famous physician of ancient Greece and resident of Kos. It is a large flowered member of the exclusively eastern Mediterranean based O. heldreichii group of Ophrys.

It is one of the eastern Mediterranean's rarer Ophrys, occurring in small numbers on the Aegean island of Kos and only in the Kephalos peninsular in the islands southwest. As with many of its orchid species, this taxons survival on Kos is threatened due to the islands enormous herds of goats, subsistence agriculture and seemingly unrestricted tourist development. It can be found growing in small populations on most types of dry, calcareous and clay soils.

The species exhibits three characteristics which help distinguish it from other similar orchids. Perhaps the most important of these is its early flowering, which runs from mid February to mid March, a period when other species will barely have started. The odd plant (as with those depicted here) will however persist until early April, by which time they will be fading fast and be easily distinguished from their cousins. When examined closely O. hipporatis has a distinctive side profile which reveals a positively pot bellied waistline, one which has been justifiably described as inflated. Viewed from the front the impression is given of a slimmer, more scolopaxoid flower. Finally the lip is large being marginally bigger than that of O. calypsus, though the plant itself is fewer flowered and shorter. The protuberances can be variable but generally rather longer than in O. calypsus.

The pictures date from the first week of April and are from the Kephalos peninsula of Kos.