S. carica was first described by Baumann and Kunkele in 1989 from the Caria area of Anatolia and the species name is derived from this association with that ancient region.
Its range is very much eastern Mediterranean and largely the Aegean islands of Rhodes, Samos and Lesbos together with the adjacent Anatolian coastline. Its complete distribution is however poorly known due to confusion with S. orientalis. We the authors can fully understand the difficulties in differentiating these two closely related species and it seems that flowering season (S. carica is earlier) is a key distinguishing feature.
Some authorities believe that S. carica replaces S. orientalis in the most easterly parts of its range
whilst others maintain the two species overlap. We suspect that this is one of those arguements that the splitters and lumpers will pursue for some while and we for our part remain neutral on the true status
of these very similar orchids.
The overall height of the two species is very similar but S. carica tends to appear more stocky and
with leaves that can reach the bottom of the inflorescence. Photo 3 does little to reinforce this feature but was confirmed to us as being assuredly S. carica by an individual with far better local knowledge
than ourselves. The hood of this species is said to be held more horizontally than S. orientalis and this
at least is borne out in the pictures which all come from Lesbos and date from the middle of April.
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