The
O.papilionacea group is a small and
highly distinct collection of orchids that cannot be easily
mistaken for any other. It consists of just three species,
O.papilionacea itself, O.cyrenica and O.collina but
although they share a family resemblance and
configuration, they would not be confused.
Interestingly, although O.papilionacea is
an enthusiastic hybridizer, particularly with
the O.morio group, it has very rarely been
noted to cross with its closest relatives.
Unfortunately,
whilst it may be comparitively easy to identify
a plant as being a member of this species,
determining exactly which variety or variant within this species
is a much more problematic process. In truth it would be a brave
botanist who would ever bet his mortgage on the certain identity of any
of them.
O.papilionacea must be considered polymorphic and as
such, formal recognition of forms and varieties becomes a somewhat
arbitrary process. Differences largely occur in flower size and
pattern or colour but there are simply too many exceptions and regional
anomalies to give hard and fast descriptions but here goes :-
v.Heroica
is named after the heroes of the Trojan war and fittingly is endemic to
Greece apart from a small diaspora that settled across the Aegean in
Anatolia. This variety was in fact first described in 1812 from
the archeological site of Troy. It is a sturdy, dense
flowered plant with a large lip very reminiscent of v.grandiflora except that the neck
of the lip is markedly less flared and gives the flower a round
shouldered appearance when compared to the square-shouldered look of
"grandiflora". These two varieties have overlapping ranges and
must undoubtedly produce intermediates. All the photographs here
are from the Aegean and date from the end of March.
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