O. apifera was first described by Hudson from England as far back as 1762. Its name refers to the
flowers resemblance to a bee and accordingly the species has long been commonly (and not a little
affectionately) known as the Bee Orchid.
It's a widespread orchid with a distribution across temperate and Mediterranean Europe as far east as the Caucasus. In its favoured locations it can be abundant and its choice of habitat is wide, ranging from the driest chalk grassland and garrigue to wet even swampy conditions. It predominently favours
full sun positions but will tolerate (though not relish) even significant shade.
O. apifera is largely self pollinating and this autogamy seems responsible for the frequent appearance
of variant plants, some of which, although not of evolutionary significance occur on a sufficiently regular basis to have aquired formal varietal status.
O. apifera v atrrofusca is a rare variant that occurs throughout O. apifera's range and has been seen
in the UK on only a handful of occasions. This variety has virtually lost all its specular marking and appears as a uniform brown colour with just the speculum necklace remaining. The last of the four pictures depicts a flower where even the necklace has become indistinct and is an example of an
atrofusca starting its evolutionary journey towards variety fulvofusca where the complete lip is solid
brown.
The pictures here are all from Weymouth, Dorset where it was discovered growing in 2010.
