Orchid hunting - frogs and bogs, lizards and little green men.

It's been three months since I posted anything on LWI, mostly because we moved house in May and it took an astonishing ten weeks to get broadband connected at the new address. I don't want to go into the sordid details of why it took so long as it makes my mercury rise; let's just say I'm left with a scarred-for-life hatred of Tiscali, BT and Indian call centres - but now we're back on-line so let's see some more living world!

We had a great summer here until the beginning of August with a seven week span of hot, dry weather and I used these incredibly rare atmospheric conditions to work on my stock of orchid photographs. It's good to have a clear goal when you're out with the cameras and whether you find what you're looking for or not doesn't really matter because you see plenty of other interesting subjects in the search and, as they say, the pleasure is in the chase.

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Man Orchids

One of the first orchids I photographed this year was the Man Orchid on the North Downs near Kemsing. It's latin name is Orchis anthropophora, which means 'man bearing' after the little hooded mannikins that hang facing outwards from the flower spike. It's a rarity, mostly confined to the South East corner of England and becoming rarer even here as suitable habitats disappear.

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In the UK, this is the most man-like orchid we have, though if we're honest, the men look more like dolls or little boys. But there is a European species of orchid that takes the prize for macho and that's Orchis italica, the Italian Orchid, Wavy-leaved Monkey Orchid or Naked Man Orchid. Here's a shot of a wonderful specimen I took in the Mediterranean island of Corfu some years ago:-

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Let's look at those florets in more detail:-

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Our little green man looks a little shy and withering next to the flambuoyant, exhibitionist 'Italian' flower doesn't he?. I'm afraid (in this case) the Italian lays the greater claim to the name Man Orchid.

In European countries, where both species grow, common names more closely reflect the flower's appearance. So our Man Orchid is called Puppenorchis (doll orchid) or Ohnhorn (without horn) in German, L'homme pendu (the hanging man) in French and the delightful Ballerino in Italian. The Wavy-leaved Monkey is called Knabenkraut (boyweed) in German, Orchis Ondule (undulating orchid) in French and Uomo Nudo (naked man) in Italian.

The completely coincidental resemblance of orchid flower parts to human figures, other animals or body parts, especially sexual, has made orchids the subject of intense fascination since at least Mediaeval times and no other group of plants has been so avidly sought out or collected. The ancient 'doctrine of signatures' ensured great attention to these plants because, as well as the flowers' talented mimicry, the rhizomes of several species resemble testacles, fingers and so-on, so that the plants were considered useful by herbalists for a whole range of ailments from physical to mental.

In fact the word 'orchid' means testacle in Greek, ancient and modern, which means you have to be very careful what you answer when orchid hunting in Greece and asked by the land-owner what you're looking for! Probably best to say 'antho' (flower).

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Lizard Orchid

The links golf courses bordering the coast near the Kent town of Sandwich are good sites for the Lizard orchid and there were several hundred growing in 'the rough' when I visited in June. The Lizard is a robust plant with helmeted florets like the Man Orchid. They don't look much like lizards except for the long ribbon like 'tail' in place of 'legs', really an elongated central petal lobe with the smaller lobes making the 'arms'.

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A spectacular plant, very rare though locally common and making a comeback in a few sites in England but their greenish overall colour makes them difficult to spot unless you know what to look for.

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Frog Orchid

It's hard to see the frog in a Frog Orchid but it's there if you use some imagination. This unusually dense and robust flower spike was photographed at Noar Hill reserve in Hampshire.

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Bog Orchid

The tiny Bog Orchid is one of our rarest species and the New Forest is now just about the only place to find this tiny plant in the South of the UK. It is more widespread in Scotland and Ireland but is everywhere disappearing. One of the hardest British plants to find at 2-4 inches tall, it grows in wet sphagnum bogs, usually close to streams so you're guaranteed to get wet in the attempt! It has tiny green-winged florets, which need close inspection to appreciate.

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Bee Orchid

The Bee Orchid is much commoner than any of the above species but nevertheless has a touch of the exotic. These flowers were growing just a few yards from the M25 London orbital road at Ramney Marsh in Essex.

Stigmas of mature flowers resemble a duck's head. The pollinia, two sacks-like organs carrying pollen, can be seen in the image above on the 'breast' of the imaginary duck but the fact that they are stuck to it, rather than hanging free to be picked up by passing insects (as in the out-of-focus flower in the background), means that this flower has self-pollinated.

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The flower bears some resemblance to a bee and is said to be designed to fool male bumble bees into mating with the flower before real female bees make an appearance in Spring. The flower's pollinia stick to the bee while he is being hoodwinked and successful pollination depends on him enjoying the experience enough to try it on with another Bee Orchid flower and depositing the pollinia on that flower's stigma. But it seems that male bees are not that desperate or at least are not fooled twice, as it is also claimed that British flowers are largely self-pollinated.

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Lastly, this is the view from the Man Orchid site at Eastdown looking towards the farm at Magpie Bottom. Chalk landscape at its most appealing.

Best wishes to all. Steve.

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