Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Asparagales > Orchidaceae > Ophrys > Ophrys insectifera

Ophrys insectifera (fly orchid)

Synonyms: Ophrys muscifera f. bombifera (homotypic); Ophrys musciflora; Orchis insectifera (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

Ophrys insectifera, the fly orchid, is a species of orchid and the type species of the genus Ophrys. It is native to Europe (Codes) and favors sites with alkaline soil. The name arises because its inflorescence resembles a fly, although it is dependent on wasps and bees for pollination. The plants use scent to attract male wasps and bees which pollinate the flowers as they attempt to mate with the flower. The scent released by the flowers mimic female sexual pheromones.
View Wikipedia Record: Ophrys insectifera

Infraspecies

Attributes

Edible [1]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [1]  Hermaphrodite
Lifespan [1]  Perennial
Pollinators [1]  Flies, Bees
Scent [1]  The flowers resemble a female insect and also emit a scent similar to female pheremones.
Structure [3]  Herb
Height [1]  20 inches (0.5 m)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [2]  Strong Base
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Soil Moisture [2]  Moist
View Plants For A Future Record : Ophrys insectifera

Protected Areas

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Providers

Pollinated by 
Megachile mystacea[4]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
2ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
3Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
4Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0