This species was first described in 2007 by Messrs Saliaris and Delforge and along with O. masticorum (another of the newly split Greek island species) is a member of the steadily burgeoning
O. oestrifera group.
O. orphanidea was named in honour of Theodore Orphanides who lived from 1817 to 1886 and was a
highly regarded scientist of his time.
As with O. masticorum it seems to have taken a long time to conclude that this was a new Ophrys where previously it was being regarded as O. bremifera and subsequently O. ceto. Again like O. masticorum it finds a home on Chios where it is currently thought to be an endemic and where it's relatively common.
As yet we can find little published data about this species and so what follows is based on our personal observations and must therefore be treated as open to debate ! What is definite is that these photographs were taken between the 9th and 17th of April 2008. O. masticorum is the species that is most likely to be confused with O. orphanidea and for good reason - it is very similar ! The sepals on the former tend to be larger and the dorsal sepal more strongly inclined forward. The body of O. orphanidea is fuller and the speculum more complex.
The plant itself is tall, slender and can carry a large number of flowers. I must just stress again however that these observations are based on a small number of plants.
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