FLORA - LIBURNIAN ORCHID 2014

Liburnian orchid
Ophrys liburnica Devillers et Devillers-Tersch.,
Orchid Family (Orchidaceae)


Together with some other generic and endemic species the Liburnian orchid (Ophrys liburnica) belongs to the group of early- blossoming orchids with small flowers (of the wide generic group of early spider orchids (O. sphegodes). Early spider orchids belong to the best known and most widely spread, but also the most variable species of orchids (orchidaceae). They are wide-spread throughout almost whole Europe, including numerous subspecies, varieties and crossbreeds of local occurrence. Liburnian orchid is one such Illyric-Adriatic stenoendemic plant which blossoms already in March in small number of habitats along the Croatian coastline, from Istria to Korčula. It has been described on the basis of specimens collected in year 2002 on the island of Cres.
It reaches the height of up to 30 centimetres. The flowers develop separately or several in group, in a loosen blossom. The three outer leaves of the perianth are most often greenish while the inner ones can also be more prominently coloured. The lip (labellum) is dark and hairy, with a bare, blue pattern (mirror) in the form of the letter „H“ and “jungle eyes“, which contribute to the look of an insect.
The scientific name for Liburnian orchid originated from the Latin adjective liburnicus, derived from the name of Illyric sailorly folk Liburnians, which inhabited the North Adriatic costal area in the far 9th B.C. One of the frequent features of early spire orchids - which means also of the Liburnian orchid - is that their flowers immediately after fertilisation entirely lose their colour becoming unsightly-greenish and unattractive to pollinators..
Orchids (Orchidaceae) – the largest and in the terms of evolution the most branched plant family on Earth with incredible almost 900 genera and more than 25,000 species – are in Europe on the always getting longer list of plants with uncertain chances of survival. Also the abundance of populations of all orchids has decreased in recent decades mainly because of fragmentation and loss of habitats (rockery grasslands, low open shrubberies, abandoned cultures), which are overgrown by woods.


Sanja Kovačić