The members of the O. papilionacea group had been the subject of research for many years and along
with the O. morio orchids have now been reclassified into the previously single member Anacamptis genus.
A. papilionacea v grandiflora was first formally desribed from Seville in 1842 and its varietal name
refers appropriately to the large size of the flower. The species Papilionacea must be considered
polymorphic and as such, formal recognition of forms and varieties becomes a somewhat arbitrary
process. Differences largely occur in flower size and pattern or colour but there are simply too many exceptions, intermediates and regional anomalies to give scientifically sound and infallible descriptions.
Grandiflora, although variable is however one of the more easily distinguished varieties and a good place
to study this plant is in Sicily where it is the sole papilionacea representative (though some variant forms are recognized).
It is a tall, large flowered plant very similar to the Greek variety heroica but not generally as robust or
the inflorescence as dense. The flowers themselves are square shouldered at the neck of the lip whereas heroica gives a more round shouldered impression. Grandiflora's range is largely western
Mediterranean but is reported to reach as far as Crete and Anatolia, though this may well be due to confusion with the Aegean populations of heroica.
The pictures are all from Sicily with the exception of photo 5 which comes from Gargano and is not a
typically marked specimen. The lack of striation on the lip suggests genetic interaction with varietyrubra.
The following photo's are from Sicily and depict hybrids with A. morio.
