Please can I have comments on whether this is or is not a Wasp Orchid. I photographed it yesterday (14/6) in north Norfolk, at a site where they have been recorded before. I have never seen one myself before. There was only 1 spike and it was among a few spikes of Bee Orchid. Thank you. Kevin
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Wasp Orchid?? (1 Viewer)
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steve_nova
Well-known member
Certainly is a wasp orchid you lucky beggar 
Wasp Orchid Ophrys apifera (Fifth group down the page).
Wasp Orchid Ophrys apifera (Fifth group down the page).
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christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Thanks for the website pics ,Steve,very interesting.Did not realise there were so many Orchid variations.
steve_nova
Well-known member
Hi Christine, I should have mentioned that the Wasp Orchid Ophrys apifera var. trollii is a variant of the Bee Orchid Ophrys apifera and much less common.
christineredgate
Winner of the Copeland Wildlife Photographer of th
Thanks,Steve.It appears that the Wasp Orchid is more blue in colour than the Bee,which seems to be mauve.When I ever mangage to go over to the reserve ,will have a close look,and see if any Wasp Orchids are over there.
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
Kevin
In my opinion your flower was not a Wasp orchid; although the shape of the lip fits closely, the colour is wrong - in Wasp, the lip is green with the purple patterning, and looks very pale and washed out. Your plant has the lip with normal colouring for Bee, and the pattern on the lip is also normal.
Bee orchid can be very variable in the shape of the lower lip, and this looks to be one at the extreme end of its variation, or possibly a Bee/wasp hybrid, which often occur at sites where Wasp does.
It may be even that over years, the hybrids take over and get more normal as time goes on. At the site where I saw Wasp this year, they have reduced in numbers over the last three years, and are now down to one plant. Nearby, the hybrids, some of which look like your plant, surround the Wasp, and are themselves surrounded by large numbers of Bee.
Hope this helps
Sean Cole, Staffs
In my opinion your flower was not a Wasp orchid; although the shape of the lip fits closely, the colour is wrong - in Wasp, the lip is green with the purple patterning, and looks very pale and washed out. Your plant has the lip with normal colouring for Bee, and the pattern on the lip is also normal.
Bee orchid can be very variable in the shape of the lower lip, and this looks to be one at the extreme end of its variation, or possibly a Bee/wasp hybrid, which often occur at sites where Wasp does.
It may be even that over years, the hybrids take over and get more normal as time goes on. At the site where I saw Wasp this year, they have reduced in numbers over the last three years, and are now down to one plant. Nearby, the hybrids, some of which look like your plant, surround the Wasp, and are themselves surrounded by large numbers of Bee.
Hope this helps
Sean Cole, Staffs
Ghostly Vision
Well-known member
.......And you might like to get Simon Harrop to check out the site for you next year - he lives in Norfolk.
Cheers
Sean
Cheers
Sean
black52bird
Registered User
Not Wasp!!
Dear Birder
Absolutely nothing to do with "wasp orchid" which is a regularly occuring mutation of Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid). Your photos are either - as you suggest finally - end-of-the-flowering-season mess, or, possibly, an aberrant variety.......... var. troilli is very distinct, and always the same, and yours ain't. I'm afraid.
Best
David
birder said:
Dear Birder
Absolutely nothing to do with "wasp orchid" which is a regularly occuring mutation of Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid). Your photos are either - as you suggest finally - end-of-the-flowering-season mess, or, possibly, an aberrant variety.......... var. troilli is very distinct, and always the same, and yours ain't. I'm afraid.
Best
David
Nelbert
Lincolnshire - Migrants R Us
I worked for an organisation that had several plants of Ophrys apifera var. trollii on a nature reserve it managed, and I'd underline the previous post - the form is constant and looks quite different to the bee orchid you photographed. Could it be the standard apifera either gone over or infected with a virus?
