Ophrys battandieri is a slender plant growing from 20 to 40cm (8 to 16in) tall. The lower leaves are arranged in a basal rosette, while the upper leaves are erect. The lax inflorescence has four to ten flowers.[3] Plants observed at Tikjda in Algeria had three to seven flowers.[4] Flowers have olive-green to yellowish-green sepals. The two lateral sepals are bent forward, while the dorsal sepal is bent over forming a hood. The two pale yellow to yellowish-green lateral petals are relatively large (about a third to half as long as the lateral sepals) and have wavy margins. The labellum or lip is 8–12.5mm (0.3–0.5in) long and 7–12.5mm (0.3–0.5in),[3] possibly up to 13–14mm (0.5–0.6in) long.[4] The background colour of the labellum is dark or reddish brown with a broad yellow margin up to 3mm (0.12in) wide and a straight and narrow, lighter base.[4] The apex of the lip is three-lobed, the lateral lobes being shorter than the middle lobe. The speculum or mirror has an irregular shape. Its centre is shiny, ranging in colour from greyish-blue through blue to light purple. The outer edges of the speculum are usually separated from the yellow margin by a reddish-brown outline.[3]
Taxonomy
Ophrys battandieri was first described by Edmond Gustave Camus in 1908.[5] The specific epithet battandieri honours the French botanist Jules Aimé Battandier (1848-1922), who made a major contribution to the study of the flora of Algeria.[3]
Morphologically, the species resembles others placed in the Ophrys lutea group. It has been synonymized with or treated as a subspecies of O.subfusca (which is itself now accepted as a subspecies of O.fusca). It has also been confused with hybrids between O.fusca and O.lutea. In 2010, it was resurrected as a separate species in a synonymic index of the flora of North Africa.[4]
The precise distribution of Ophrys battandieri depends on which other taxa are synonymized with it. Its primary distribution is northwest Africa (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia) and southern Spain.[1] Some sources also consider it native to France, Crete and Sicily,[2] or restrict its distribution to northwest Africa.[3] In northwest Africa, it is found in a variety of habitats, including nutrient-poor meadows, dry grassland, open garrigue, open woodland and wasteland at elevations from sea level to 900m (3,000ft). It favours calcareous or sandy soils.[3]
Plant in Algeria initially identified as O.murbeckii
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
