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Athens (Attica) | Attica | Athens City

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.

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Click on any of the pictures to enlarge.

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Full name: Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea Cav. 1793, Icon. 2: 46

Common Name:  Yellow 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 lutea
Subspecies: Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea Cav. 1793, Icon. 2: 46

This plant flowers in Greece from March to about the end of May. As known, binomial names are in Greek and Latin, and this plant is named "lutea" because of its yellow lip margin (lutea=yellow, in Latin) around the browinsh center. The lip ("labellum") is wide, resembling the one of Ophrys phryganae and Ophrys sicula, yet longer. The lip mimics a bee, to lure male Andrena bees into a hopeless but pollinating copulation. It is the only Oprys species with the simulated insect "drawn" facing away from the pollen bearing "pollinaria", thus obliging the decepted insect to sit on the lip with its abdomen rather than its thorax adjacent to the pollinaria; as a result, the pollinaria stick to its back part.



Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: March 26, 2013
Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: April 06, 2008
Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: April 06, 2008
Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: March 26, 2013
Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: March 26, 2013
Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea

Ophrys lutea subsp. lutea


Date taken: April 14, 2015

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