Wild orchids of Andalusia

Orchids are a very diverse botanical family, mainly represented in the tropics. Their presence in the European flora often goes unnoticed… and yet, their photogenic flowers provoke passions.

Most species bloom during the short period of spring, matching the beautiful season and the most pleasant time to discover the biodiversity of a region.

Small miracles of nature, these plants require specific environmental conditions (pH, humidity) and depend on mandatory collaborations with fungi (for microrrhizae), insects (for pollination) and herbivorous mammals (to maintain the environments open).

Orchids: little-known ‘divas’

Mediterranean flowering plants

Mimicry and ‘sexual deception’

Frequent natural hybrids

Group of Ophrys… the bee orchids

Extravagant plants with unique shapes… whose label (large lower petal) imitates an insect by its shape and texture. The ‘sexual deception’ is so effective that the flower has ‘abandoned’ the nectar reward (absence of nectar tube).

Genera with few species

A small group of species quite different and easy to identify in the field. Note the Bird’s nest orchid, a non-chlorophyllian species (absence of leaves), parasitic and entirely dependent on its microrrhizae.

Group of Orchis (Anacamptis, Gymnadenia and Neotinea)

A large group of often similar species whose genetics have recently upset understanding. The current situation is not very intuitive since in the current classification, species belonging to neighboring genera are sometimes more similar to each other than within their own genus (!).

Dactylorhiza group

Group resembling the Orchis. The two genera are most easily distinguished by tuber morphology, with fingered forms in Dactylorhiza (as the scientific name indicates). Genus of distinctly northern distribution, loving the coolness of wet meadows and riversides, and subservient to mountainous areas in the south of the Iberian Peninsula.

Group of Serapias : tongue orchids

Very singular genus of orchids whose morphology and color of the label recall a language (!) particularly visible and attractive, at least for beetles and other visitors. The rest of the corolla forms a small tunnel which serves as a nocturnal shelter for insects, whose regular visits thus ensure pollination. An unusual strategy! Less known than in the Ophrys, certain species (Serapias lingua) have also developed fragrances typical of ‘sexual deception’.

Green flowering species

A small group of remarkable species having abandoned the bright floral colorations to maximize the chlorophyllous parts. This adaptation has appeared several times during evolution and in different genera, a situation that only genetics has made it possible to identify recently.

Cephalanthera and epipactis group : helleborines

Most often forest species unlike most orchids in Europe. Epipactis form a very complex group. Species previously cited in Andalusia, E. kleinii, E. cardina, E. lusitanica or E. fageticola were not retained by Kühn et al. (2019). Nevertheless, these species are recognized in Flora Iberica and specialists will be keen to study them.

Orchids of Andalusia… a never-to-be-satisfied list

The systematics and the nomenclature of European orchids are so complex that it is virtually impossible to find two works where the same species names coincide… We follow here the recent reference guide to European and Mediterranean orchids : Kuhn, Pedersen, Cribb (2019). Field Guide to the Orchids of Europe and the Mediterranean. Kew Royal Botanical Graden. A choice which favors recognizing a smaller number of species and subspecies than most specialized authors… and which, implacably, will not satisfy those keen on ‘fixing’ the variations observed in nature.

Let us indicate the main problems to be solved for the taxonomy of orchids: the existence of a great floral morphological variability in certain “species”; clonal populations that bias our perception of the morphology of a group of individuals that appear to be differentiated; the insoluble problem of how to interpret the existence of sympatric subspecies; the absence of genetic sequencing for many taxa (in particular local variations promoted to the rank of species); the possibility that each association of Ophrys with different pollinating insects induces micro-speciation.

For Andalusia, the taxa offering the most subject to debate are the aggregates of Ophrys fusca, Orchis morio and the genus Epipactis.