O. italica was first brought to the attention of the botanical world in 1798 when Poiret formally described
it from "somewhere in Italy". Over 200 years later it is now perhaps the most familiar of Mediterranean
orchids and arguably the most abundant.
This familiarity almost certainly leads to considerable complacency amongst the orchid cognoscenti and the species is frequently overlooked and disregarded in the company of its rarer cousins. This is unfortunate as
whatever it may lack in rarity, it certainly makes up for in beauty and stature - it can be a huge plant, up
to 70cm tall and with an inflorescence of up to a hundred individual flowers.
It is unlikely to be confused with any other species, with the possible exception of O. simia which is an
altogether spindlier plant and which lacks the prominent and lengthy "tooth" situated between the two
legs (secondary lobes). O. italica is widespread in the southern Mediterranean and may be found from
north Africa up to central Italy and central Spain. In the east it reaches Israel and is particularly common
in Greece and the Aegean basin, Crete and Cyprus.
The species is not a particularly variable one and usually appears in shades of pink, although white is not at
all uncommon and in Sicily there exists a hyperchromatic variant ( purpurea ) that is deep red. Variation
also occurs as a result of hybridization but this is surprisingly limited for such a plentiful species. One of
the commoner hybrids is O. italica x anthropophora and an example of this (from Crete) is illustrated in the
final photograph. The other pictures are from Lesbos, Chios and Sicily.
