Image of Monkey orchid

Description:

Slo.: opija kukavica - Habitat: Grassland, southwest oriented slope, warm and dry place, full sun, exposed to direct rain, average temperature 11-13 deg C, average precipitations 1600-1800 mm/year, elevation 105 m (350 feet), submediterranean phytogeographical region. - Substratum: soil. - Comment: Orchis simia has a very beautiful and filigree flowers and the plant is quite a rare wild orchid in my country. It is limited to the most south-west, the warmest, submediterranean part of Slovenia. This year its display was extraordinarily rich. There were more than twenty of them flowering on the meadow. Among them we found also two rare albinos (see Figs. 5. and 6.) and many other rarities like Himantoglossum adriaticum (not yet blooming), Serapias vomeracea, different members of Ophrys genus and Orchis purpurea. All of them are members of much warmer climate than the overage in Slovenia finding their northern limit where they can thrive in southwest Slovenia. - Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by 'V' representing a vulnerable species. - Ref. (1) M.A. Fischer, W. Adler, K. Oswald, Exkursionsflora sterreich Liechtenstein, Sdtirol, LO Landesmuseen, Linz, Austria (2005), p 1048. (2) N. Jogan (ed.), Gradivo za Atlas flore Slovenije (Materials for the Atlas of Flora of Slovenia), CKSF (2001), p 263. (3) A. Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007), p 778. (4) L. Poldini, Nuovo Atlante corologico delle piante vascolarinel, Friuli Venezia Giulia, University of Trieste (2002), p 338.