Bee orchid
Ophrys apifera
Family · Orchidaceae · Harmless
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The wild orchid that mimics a female bee to trick the males into pollinating it. It is one of the easiest to find in Portugal, and still looks impossible when you see it.
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Scrubland · Uplands
Also known asbee orchid
How to tell it
The lip is velvety brown with yellow markings and genuinely looks like the abdomen of a bee at rest. Three pink sepals behind, spread like wings. Few flowers per stem.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
None, and that is the point. Wild orchids are not picked or transplanted: they depend on specific soil fungi and die away from where they grew.
The law says
All wild orchids are protected by CITES and by national law. Photograph it, do not pick it.