O. alasiatica was first described by Segers, Walraven and Kreutz from Larnaca (Cyprus) in 2002 and it  takes its name from Alasia, the ancient Egyptian name for the Island of Cyprus.

This species is endemic to Cyprus and is one of four similar O. mammosa  group members that occur there, the others being O. morio, O. posteria and O. mammosa itself. When these species appear in typical form they can be separated relatively easily, they do however, all exhibit natural variation, which together with hybridization can create real identification issues. The species close proximity inevitably encourages interbreeding and hybrid clusters containing genetic influences from any or all of the above species are far from uncommon. Some of the photographs here depict flowers with uncharacteristic features but photos 1, 3, 5, 8 and 11 depict good representations of type.

O. alasiatica in its typical form has several characteristics that help differentiate it. 1. The beak at the  end of the column is rather short (particularly as compared to O. morio. 2. The basal protuberances tend to be attenuated. 3. The dorsal sepal is  often curved forwards over the column. 4. The perianth is shorter and often  more rounded than in either O. morio or O. mammosa. 5. The distal half of the lip is usually bordered by a broad  margin that can range in colour from bright yellow to orange/red. 6. The basal field is normally of a lighter colour than the lip. This last feature can reasonably accurately distinguish O. alasiatica from O. mammosa and the later flowering O. posteria but is however a characteristic shared with O. morio.

The illustrations are all from Cyprus dating from the first week of March at which time flowering was in full swing.