Mt. Hymettus Orchids
Welcome to Athens and our Orchids Album! The vast majority of the inquisitive visitors to Athens are usually facing a big dilemma: Spend some time here before their island hopping to the Aegean or abandon everything and rush to their dream destination as soon as possible? Trying to make a decision one is tempted, mainly or exclusively, by the Acropolis, dominating the city skyline, and the New Acropolis museum. Few are aware that in the same city, less than two miles away, there is one of the top museums worldwide, namely the National Archaeological Museum, full to the brim with masterpieces of prehistoric and historic art of utmost importance: the Mycenaean gold jewels and artifacts are just a few of these treasures. As if these were not enough, this album comes to make things worse. Because, once on the Acropolis rock, or even in the Acropolis Museum, your view to the east is blocked by Mt. Hymettus, a mountain offering one of the richest habitats as regards its flora. To the plant enthusiast Greece in general, Attica in particular, are "dreams come true" and exploring them, camera in hand, is an absolute must. The photos in this album (and the ones to appear in this site in the near future) are meant to be just an appetizer, hoping to make Mt. Hymettus appealing to the "beauty enthusiast" as well. If you wish to take part in a photographic plant safari to Mt. Hymettus, please do contact us. We'll take you around to spots where the chances of finding orchids are best. Late winter to midsummer is when they're more frequent: different species bloom at varying periods. The captions of the photos in this album inform you about the date they were taken.
Select Page of the Album:
Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinumFull name: Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum Desf. 1807, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 10: 226 Common Name: Horseshoe Bee-orchid Taxonomy: Regnum | Plantae | Divisio | Tracheophyta | Subdivisio | Spermatophytina | Class | Magnoliopsida | Superordo | Lilianae | Ordo | Asparagales | Familia | Orchidaceae | Subfamilia | Orchidoideae | Tribus | Orchidae | Subtribus | Orchidinae | Alliance | Orchis | Genus | Ophrys | Species | Ophrys ferrum-equinum | Subspecies: Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum Ophrys ferrum-equinum, the Horseshoe Bee-orchid, is a species of orchid native to Albania, Greece, and Turkey, including Crete and other islands of the Aegean. It owes its species name to the characteristic shape of a silver horse-shoe on the brown petal. Flowering time: February-May. It is recognized by the spread out lip with grey-violet marginal hair in the shoulders and the shiny blue speculum which is not surrounded by white line and is not reaching the lip base, otherwise we have a representative of Ophrys spruneri, which always reaches the base of the lip and is surrounded by a characteristic white line.
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 14, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 14, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 14, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 14, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 25, 2008 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 29, 2008 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 26, 2014 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 26, 2014 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 26, 2014 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 16, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 16, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: April 19, 2015 |
|
Ophrys ferrum-equinum subsp. ferrum-equinum
Date taken: March 26, 2013 |
|
|
Select Page of the Album:
|
|