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The genus Ophrys is a large group of from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, Caucasus, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Altervista Flora Italiana, Ophrys
These plants are remarkable in that they successfully reproduce through pseudocopulation, that is, their flowers mimic female insects to such a degree that amorous males are fooled into mating with the flowers, thereby pollinating them. There are many natural hybrids.
They are referred to as the " bee orchids" due to the flowers of some species resemblance to the furry bodies of and other . Their scientific name Ophrys is the Greek word for "eyebrow", referring to the furry edges of the lips of several species.
Ophrys was first mentioned in the book "Natural History" by Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD).
During summer, all Ophrys orchids are dormant as underground bulbous , which serve as a food reserve. In late summer/autumn they develop a rosette of leaves. Also a new tuber starts to grow and matures until the following spring; the old tuber slowly dies. The next spring the flowering stem starts to grow. During the flowering period the leaves have already started to wither.
Ophrys species, like other orchids, are dependent on symbiotic fungus at some point during their life cycle, but especially for germination, which may take months or even years underground. Orchid roots contain Orchid mycorrhiza, coils of fungal hyphae inside orchid root cells.
Transplanting specimens, especially wild specimens, is difficult, sometimes impossible, due to this symbiosis unless a large amount of surrounding earth is also taken with the plant.
All orchids are protected under CITES and should not be removed or disturbed in habitat.
The shiny, basal leaf have a green or bluish colour. Two to twelve flowers grow on an erect Plant stem with basal leaves. These species are successfully cultivated by specialist growers of terrestrial orchids and are reported to be difficult to grow, being sensitive to rotting and damping off diseases if not properly subjected to a cool and dry aestivation period over the summer months with little water.
The allomone produced by an orchid is specific to its pollinator, of which it usually only has one.Ayasse et al. 2007Gogler et al. 2009Schluter et al. 2009 The allomone is a mixture of alkenes and alkanes.Schiestl and Cozzolino 2008 There are one or more active species in this mixture that account for the attraction of pollinators.Vereeken and Schiestl 2008 Pollinators and orchids use the same chemical compounds in the same absolute amounts in their pheromones and allomones, respectively.Schiestl 2008
Every Ophrys orchid has its own pollinator insect and is completely dependent on this species for its survival. Duped males are less likely to return and may ignore other plants of the same species. Only about 10% of an Ophrys population gets pollinated. This is enough to preserve the population, since each Ophrys orchid produces about 12,000 minute seeds.
The need for further study is indicated. , Plants of the World Online accepted 25 species and a much larger number of hybrids:
Pollination
Orchids of the genus Ophrys use sexual deception to attract pollinators to their flowers. In sexual deception, an orchid attracts male pollinators by producing the sex pheromone of virgin female pollinators in addition to providing visual and tactile cues. These signals stimulate mating behaviour in the male pollinators, which then attempt copulation, called "pseudocopulation", with the orchid labellum.Schluter et al. 2009 During pseudocopulation, pollen from the flower's column becomes attached to some part of the pollinator, usually the head or abdomen, and the pollinator inadvertently carries and transfers this pollen to other flowers when it is once again enticed into pseudocopulation. While the morphological cues such as the shape and texture of the labellum play a role especially at close range in inducing the pollinator mating behavior, the orchid's pheromone mimic, or allomone, has been shown to play the most important role in enticing pollinators to the flower.Schiestl 2005Schluter et al. 2009
Species
The number of species recognised varies very widely between authorities. Flora Europaea in 1980 and Pedersen & Faurholdt in 2007 listed about 20 species in Europe as a whole; Buttler in 1991 increased this to 53 for slightly larger geographical area; Delforge in 1995 gave a total of 130 species. By contrast, a molecular phylogenetic study in 2008 suggested that there were around 10 distinguishable groups.
Hybrids
Hybrids include:
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