Sombre bee orchid (Ophrys fusca fusca)

Description

During the summer these orchids are dormant as an underground bulb tuber , which serves as a food reserve. At the end of summer-autumn develops a rosette of leaves. Also a new tuber begins to develop and matures until the following spring, the old tuber dies slowly. In the next spring the flower stem begins to develop, and during the flowering the leaves begin to wither.Most Ophrys orchids depend on a symbiotic fungus , because they develop only a couple of small alternate leaves. They can not be transplanted because of this symbiosis. The small basal leaves form a rosette stuck to the ground. They are oblong rounded lanceoladas without indentations have a bluish green color. They develop in autumn and can survive winter frosts. The Ophrys lupercalis is a terrestrial Orchid that has a subterranean, globular tubercle , and a small one from which comes the erect, simple floral stem with no branches of about 40 cm. The flowers have a large lip . The labellum is hairy trapezoid and has a dark brown color with an H pattern in the upper intermediate zone of gray or lighter brown. The lip of about 13 to 18 mm in length has three lobes with the two sides that are slightly turned back with fine and silky hairs. The intermediate lobe is glabrous and larger than the lateral lobes and with a central indentation. It has a yellow band bordering the entire lip. This variety has two sepalslaterals equal in size the third one turns forward above the column covering it. The three sepals are about 7 mm long and have a light green uniform color. The innermost petals are much smaller than the sepals but of the same light green or light brown color, and make a great contrast with the dark tones of the lip. Two to ten flowers develop on the floral stem with basal leaves. The flowers are unique, not only for their unusual beauty, gradation of color and exceptional shapes, but also for the ingenuity with which they attract insects . Its labellum imitates in this case the abdomen of a bee . This species is very variable in its drawings and gradation of color. They bloom from January to April.