John and Gerry's    Orchids of Britain and Europe
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Ophrys polyxo
 

This is a relatively new member of the O. heldreichii group from the Aegean island of Rhodes. It was formally described after much research in 2005, the authors being Messrs Mast, Garnier, Devillers-Terschuren and Devillers.
 
The aforementioned study concluded that plants formerly recognized as the species O. ceto and O. bremifera of the O. oestrifera group were in fact a separate species within the O. heldreichii group. As has been discussed elsewhere in these pages, a great deal of study has been concentrated on the Greek Ophrys genus over the last few years and results are not always easy to assimilate. Sometimes species separation seems to have been determined with an emphasis on geographical isolation rather than hard genetic evidence.

O. polyxo is endemic to Rhodes and is reasonably common in most parts of the island where there are few other scolopaxoid Ophrys species with which it can be confused. O. calypsus  and more particularly O. calypsus v scolopaxoides are also relatively frequent and in some forms can present difficulty with identification. O. polyxo is however a more slenderly proportioned flower with less rounded and more elongated sepals.

O. rhodia is common on the island and hybridization between the two species is common (examples of these  are illustrated below). The photos are all from Rhodes and date from early April. 





As was mentioned above, O. polyxo readily hybridizes and the following illustrations depict crosses with O. rhodia (1&2) and O. cornutula (3).








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