Sombre bee orchid
Ophrys fusca
Family · Orchidaceae · Harmless
.jpg){kind=link}
The earliest-flowering wild orchid in the Peninsula, often already in January, and the easiest to find in southern scrub and pine woods. The velvety brown lip mimics an insect resting back-up.
Scrubland · Fields and pasture · Pine woods · Montado
Also known asdark bee orchid
How to tell it
A dark brown or purple lip covered in short velvet-like hairs, three-lobed, with a dull greyish patch in the middle and a yellowish rim along the margin. Yellow-green sepals. Few flowers per stem.
What it is confused with
Bee orchid
Ophrys apifera
Bee orchid has clearly visible pink sepals and a brown lip with yellow markings that really do look like a bee; sombre bee orchid has green sepals and a dull brown lip, far more discreet.
Open sheet →What it is for
None. Like the mirror orchid, it deceives male insects rather than offering nectar, and each species in the genus fools a different bee or wasp.
The law says
Protected by CITES and national law, like all wild orchids.