BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lorne" data-source="post: 1874731" data-attributes="member: 3425">This is the info sent to us by Leslie Lewis who has now said he is happy for me to publish this;"I decided to research the name(s) of the two Radipole Bee orchids,Ophrys apifera var. fulvofusca  This variety was formally described by M. P. Grasso & Scrugli in Orchidee (Hamburg) 38: 47 (1987). It was subsequently re-described as the new combination  "forma fulvofusca  (M.P.Grasso & Scrugli) Delforge" in Natural. belges 38 (Orchid, 20): 246 (2007).   I have not read the original description of this variety as I have  been unable to access the 1987 paper.  The 2007 publication (which I have) does not help since it simply uses the 1987 name as a basionym.  However,  the entry for Ophrys apifera var. fulvofusca M. P. Grasso & Scrugli in <a href="http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophrys_apifera" target="_blank">http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophrys_apifera</a> reads:          "labello interamente bruno-rossastro, privo di macula", which Google translates as ", lip entirely reddish brown , without macula" . Similarly, the description in Bournerias which I sent you which in translation reads:          "labelle rouge, dessin absent", i.e "red (= reddish-brown), pattern absent". It thus seems little doubt that this variety is characterised by a lip which is (reddish-) brown with no pattern .  (The use of the term "reddish-brown" in the context of Bee Orchid lips seems to encompass a range of shades - see, for example, the photos of var. fulvofusca on Gunther Blaich's website<a href="http://www.guenther-blaich.de/artseite.php?par=Ophrys+apifera+var.+fulvofusca&abs=artclws" target="_blank">http://www.guenther-blaich.de/artseite.php?par=Ophrys+apifera+var.+fulvofusca&abs=artclws</a> ) Ophrys apifera var. atrofuscus The few references to this variety which I have found are all directly or indirectly attributable to Lang.  The only literature mentioned is his "Britain's Orchids" . However, the description of the variety in this book is nowhere near sufficient for the purposes of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). It therefore seems almost certain that the variety has never been formally described in accordance with the ICBN and is thus  not a valid name - it is in fact a "nomen nudum". Radipole orchids Since both the "atrofuscus" illustrated in Lang and the first Radipole plant still have the sides of the necklace pattern visible, neither appears to be a true "fulvofuscens Grasso & Scrugli". In contrast, the second plant does appear to be true var.  fulvofusca since the pattern completely absent.  I have been unable to find any previous record of var. fulvofusca in the UK. It therefore looks to me as if the second Radipole plant is the first - if so, it should probably be published.Cheers Les."</blockquote>

Verification