For the amateur, identifying Pseudophrys in Sicily can be a challenging, sometimes discouraging process
and so it's refreshing to find one in O. obaesa about which you can be reasonably confident in your diagnosis.
It can obviously show a degree of variation (particularly in shape) but overall it appears in the field as
it appears in the text books as a dark reddy brown Ophrys with an orange colouration around the
stigmatic cavity and a smokey blue crescent at the bottom of a blackish speculum.
O. obaesa is endemic to Sicily and was first described in 1909, its name meaning "swollen" which refers
to the puffy, shiny look of the body.
It is the eponymous member of the six strong O. obaesa group and has several distinctive features. Key
amongst these is the undulating longtitudinal profile of the lip which rises at the basal crests, is then
depressed at the bottom of the speculum and then kinks upwards again at the tip of the median lobe. The
second distinguishing feature, is the way in which the flowers are grouped at the top of the stem thus giveing the plant a crowded somewat untidy look. Picture 3 illustrates this point very well.
This Ophrys is local and never found in large numbers but is not in any way rare and can grow in several
different habitats, including dense woodland (though always on alkaline substrates). The photograph's come from various area's of the island and date from the second two weeks of April.
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