This Serapias was first described from Palermo, Sicily in 1837 and its name appropriately means small flowered.
Although S. bergonii populations sometimes produce plants that are small lipped, the over all flower
and hood configuration rarely reproduces the same overall look of S. parviflora and it is usually relatively easy to distinguish .
This is not a common species and unlike many of its relatives is rarely found in colonies. For this reason it is probably an under recorded orchid, being overlooked amongst drifts of its more prolific cousins. Its range is large, covering a similar area to that of S. lingua IE :- from Spain and Portugal through north Africa and the Mediterranean to the Aegean but also including an Atlantic outpost in the Canary Islands.
Another and more surprising outpost is on the coast of Cornwall though the means of its hop across the channel from Brittany are a matter of considerable debate. Unfortunately, no matter how the species found its way to the UK, its chosen site is far from secure and agricultural priorities are jeopardizing
the plants future. It has failed to appear recently.
The illustrations all come from the island of Rhodes but with the exception of number 6 which is from the Gargano peninsula and dated the 25th of April.
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