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 friburgensis is an uncommon variant that occurs throughout the range of O. apifera and
which is easily recognized by the enlarged petals which in some specimens can be of a similar size as
the sepals. There is no definitive measurement standard for these sepaloid petals and it can vary considerably - even the individual flowers on a single plant can show variation.
It can be found growing alongside normal plants and sometimes intermediates can be present. In the UK O. apifera v friburgensis is mostly to be found in the southern counties and the pictures here
are from Dorset.
