Ophrys
(an old Greek name used by Pliny, from ophrys, eyebrows; referring, perhaps, to the fringe of the inner sepals, though Pliny refers it rather to the use of the plant in painting the eyebrows). SYN. Arachnites. ORD. Orchideae. A confused genus of very pretty, terrestrial, hardy or nearly hardy, Orchids, allied to Orchis, but (except in one species) without any spur, and the lip is usually very convex. Upwards of thirty species have been enumerated; they are natives of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Sepals subequal, free, often concave, spreading; petals two, narrow-oblong, entire. The species generally thrive best in a sandy, chalky loam. O. apifera, and the other British species, are suitable for the rock-garden; the rest are best grown in a cold frame. All may be propagated by divisions of the tuberous roots; but most of the species increase very slowly, or scarcely at all, under cultivation. The species best known to gardens are those here described.
O. apifera (bee-bearing).* Bee Orchis. fl. with greenish petals and rose-coloured sepals; lip as long as the sepals, with reflexed marginal lobes, the terminal one subulate, the rest hairy above; spike few-flowered. April. l. few, glaucous. Stem about 1ft. high. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1467.)
O. arachnites (cobwebby). This species differs principally from O. apifera in the sub-deltoid, ovate petals, in the lip being longer than the sepals, and in the straight or incurved appendage. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1468.)
O. aranifera (spider-bearing). Spider Orchis. fl. with green sepals and petals; lip dark brown, as long as the sepals, with roundish, hairy, reflexed, marginal lobes; spike few-flowered. April. Stem about 6in. high. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1469.)
O. bombilifera (bee-bearing). Humble-bee Orchis. fl., sepals green; petals recurved; lip deeply trilobed, the central lobe chocolate-brown, sub-globular, the lateral ones conical, and prolonged below; anther red, obtuse, bent backwards. l. small, oblong-lanceolate. Mentone, &c. (Fl. Ment. 72.) O. lutea (yellow).* fl. 3/4in. to 1in. in diameter; sepals oblong, obtuse, incurved, green; petals much smaller, yellow or yellow-green; lip nearly quadrate, golden-yellow, with a purple disk and a contracted base, convex, three-lobed towards the tip; scape 4in. to 7in. high, stout, many-flowered. l. spreading, linear-oblong, 1 1/2in. to 2 1/2in. long. South Europe. SYN. O. vespifera. (B. M. 5941.)
O. muscifera (fly-bearing). Fly Orchis. fl. with green sepals and dark red linear petals; lip twice the length of the sepals, with four expanded lobes, somewhat downy, and having a pale blue spot in the middle; spike slender, about six-flowered. June. Europe (Britain). (Sy. En. B. 1471.)
O. Speculum (looking-glass).* fl. greenish; lip quadrate-oblong, convex; the disk steel-blue, edged with gold, and the whole broadly margined with maroon-purple. l. linear-oblong. Stem 4in. to 12in. high, bearing several flowers. South Europe, 1818. (B. M. 5844; B. R. 370.)
O. tenthredinifera (sawfly-bearing). fl. varying in colour; petals spreading; lip villous, oblong, obovate, the apex bilobed, appendiculate. April and May. Stems leafy. h. 9in. South Europe, 1815. (B. M. 1930; B. R. 205, 1093.)
O. vespifera (wasp-bearing). A synonym of O. lutea.