O. monolithia was first described from the Greek island of Rhodes by Kreutz in 2015 and is named after the viilage of Monolithos from where the species was initially recognized.
This is a recently described and uncommon member of the large O. mammosa group, a classification that has been the subject of considerable recent study. The nominate race was originally thought to occur widely in continental Greece, the Aegean basin, Crete and Cyprus but its range was not known with certainty due to the species huge variability and similarity with other Hellenic Ophrys. These studies have resulted in the range of O. mammosa being significantly refined and the number of taxons within its group significantly increased.
O. monolithia is one such of these new species with a somewhat disjunct distribution in the Aegean islands of Rhodes, Samos, Kos and Naxos. It is highly variable and can range in appearance from a dull, brown orchid to one with extravagant white lined speculum and deep red colouration. Protuberances are always well developed and divergen, the lip itself being long, tapering and without a discernible waistline. This feature is however more obvious in mature flowers and pictures 6 and 9 depict newly opened blooms that had yet to fully elongate and recurve.
The plant is sturdy and the flowers, usually few in number, are large, appearing from mid March and declining by mid April. The pictures here are from both Samos and Rhodes dating from the first week of April.
