About Ophrys sphegodes Mill.
Ophrys sphegodes Mill. has a plant height that changes with latitude. In the United Kingdom, its maximum height is around 20 centimeters (8 inches), while plants growing around the Mediterranean can reach 70 centimeters (28 inches) tall. It flowers from March to May, with flowering occurring from April to May in more northern latitudes. Each individual shoot can produce between 2 and 18 flowers. Its flowers have yellow-green sepals and a velvety red-brown labellum marked with a distinctive silvery-blue H shape, making the flowers strongly resemble an arthropod, particularly a spider. This species is similar to Ophrys fuciflora (late spider orchid) and Ophrys apifera (bee orchid), but can be told apart by petal size: late spider orchid and bee orchid have much smaller petals than sepals, while early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes Mill.) has petals and sepals of similar size. It can also be distinguished from the other two by the color patterning on the labellum: late spider orchid has a yellow point at the center of the distal end of the labellum, and bee orchid has a red patch at the proximal end of the labellum. This species grows on unimproved alkaline meadows, woodland edges, slopes, banks, and waste land. It is widespread across most of Europe and the Middle East, ranging from Britain south to Portugal and east to Iran. In Britain, it is only found in parts of Dorset, Hampshire, Kent, and Sussex, and is considered rare. However, where it does occur, it can grow in stands containing hundreds of individual plants. It is classified as a British Red Data Book plant. Despite its apparent vulnerability, it has successfully colonized the chalk spoil dumping grounds at Samphire Hoe near Dover, created from excavations for the Channel Tunnel. Worldwide, the IUCN Red List classifies this species as least concern as of 2018. In the UK, Ophrys sphegodes is pollinated by Andrena nigroaenea, a polylectic miner bee that visits many different flower species and requires dry sandy soils. Different subspecies of this orchid have evolved to attract different pollinators. This orchid species is able to form symbiotic relationships with a wide range of mycorrhizal fungi species.
