Early spider orchid
Ophrys sphegodes
Family · Orchidaceae · Harmless
The orchid that really does look like a spider perched on the flower: a bulging velvety brown lip with an H or pi shaped mark in metallic blue in the middle, over green sepals.
Fields and pasture · Scrubland · Uplands
Also known asspider orchid
How to tell it
Pale green, elongated, spreading sepals. A round, strongly bulging lip, dark brown and velvety, with no yellow rim, bearing a shiny bluish central mark shaped like an H, an X or two bars. No appendage at the tip. Two to ten flowers per spike.
What it is confused with
Dark bee orchid
Ophrys fusca
Dark bee orchid has a flat three-lobed lip with a central groove and a dull greyish mark; spider orchid's lip is entire, strongly bulging, with a shiny metallic blue mark.
Open sheet →What it is for
None. It is one of Europe's most variable orchids and among the hardest to name with certainty, which is only settled by a good specialist and a good photograph.
The law says
Protected by CITES and national law, like all wild orchids. Photograph it, do not pick it or dig up the tuber.