@bellule @wildorchids Haha, probably not - unlike e.g. Dactylorhiza where finding a hybrid almost seems more likely than finding a pure form of a species, Gymnadenia and Pseudorchis are rather stable, with at least the inter-generic hybrids being rather rare and always standing out a lot (and maybe they are even sterile?) Gymnadenia × suaveolens is more common, but doesn't seem to recombine with the two parents from what I've seen. A field of conopsea overlapping a field of rhellicani produces them pretty reliably, but they stay clearly recognizable. I've never had an intermediate form yet where I wasn't sure if it's a hybrid or parent. Dactylorhiza is the exact opposite, every single plant always seems to have various influences from other species and even genera...
I'm obsessed with #inaturalist and now started sometimes posting an observation also here if I manage to get a really nice picture. Mostly wild orchids and other plants.
Managed to find all the hybrids between the three common mountain orchids of Austria this year. I had seen all of them before except for the rare and elusive × schweinfurthii (hybrid between P. albida and G. conopsea). But this year it revealed itself, right next to the path up to the Figerhorn mountain, no searching required - it was just there for everyone to see. It seems to be a recurring pattern for me now, search for rare plants for years, far out in the wilderness, never to find them - then they randomly grow right next to the path 😅 #wildorchids #inaturalist @wildorchids
@bellule @Andros we talked to the farmer, he said he has little use for that meadow (and I guess is too old and lazy to dry it out and fertilize, unlike, I'm sure, the next owner) and would sell it for 150k. In a nearby park they built an entirely useless "nature center" for 10 million or so, which protects nothing at all - it's mind boggling.
Some of the Ophrys species I saw for the first time on Rhodes: Ophrys cornutula (oestrifera group), Ophrys polyxo (heldreichii group), Ophrys calypsus, Ophrys dodekanensis. They all look the same to me but #inaturalist people are slowly identifying some of my pictures 😄
On my trip to Athens, I think I found both Ophrys zeusii (the black one) and Ophrys herae (the red one) 😄
#wildorchids @wildorchids #inaturalist #BloomScrolling #wildflowers
@Hagukh @BjornIdle definitely looks like Pseudevernia to me - they are so pretty
@albertcardona oh, you actually meant the other one, also a pasque flower, but different species, both exact same habitat. My observation was in a slightly weird place, but you can just search inat for Pulsatilla pratensis. The big one is Pulsatilla grandis.
@albertcardona It's a pasque flower, and yes, one of my absolute favorites! They are very big and showy and grow in barren grass land (very much endangered habitat in Austria unfortunately since everything was converted to farmland). Here's the inat ob's: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/264507940
More spring wildflowers from my weekend trip to Graz and Vienna. #inaturalist #wildflowers #bloomscrolling
Crocus bloom in a forest near Graz, Austria. I'm so glad flowers are back after the long winter 😄 #inaturalist #wildflowers #bloomscrolling
@nev ohh, I knew I'm forgetting something - I think this is my first social media post since the 2024 flower season, which was ages ago - I remembered the hashtag thing at the last moment, but not the picture descriptions, will try to edit them in now.
Finally spring! Erica bloom in Austria, yesterday. #inaturalist #wildflowers
Orchids have been done blooming here for several months, so I spent many evenings painting them instead. I collected the stones along the river and painted with some cheap children's acrylic markers. Each stone has one of the 24 orchid genera that grow in Austria. I'll use them as an Advent calendar, flipping them over then Dec. 1 to Dec. 24 I will reveal one every day and reminisce about the species I found in the genus...
#wildorchids @wildorchids
@Subumbral haha, so fitting, gentian is an ingredient and it has a picture of an Austrian emperor (which is the name of the background mountains) on the bottle 😄
@nev Indeed! That specific mountain range is called the "Wild Emperor" - myself I'm standing on a very tame grass hill on the other side of the valley though, taking flower pictures 😄
Spiranthes spiralis - the last orchid of the year in Austria, flowering on a meadow inside the city of Salzburg. Always so bittersweet, it's one of my favorite orchids, but also means I'll have to survive with no orchids for 7 or 8 months once they are done.
#inaturalist #wildorchids @wildorchids #wildflowers #bloomscrolling
@artemesia @wildorchids From what I read, no. And the orchid doesn't actually care, just some bacteria that get into the flowers can convert the sugar to ethanol.
The ghost orchid, Epipogium aphyllum. I had almost given up on seeing one in 2024, but then on a long weekend in Tyrol, there it was, next to the trail to a waterfall. Only a single plant left flowering with a single flower left, but still, made me very happy! If you look very closely at the last two pictures, there's actually three plants (but two have no flowers left, one already fallen over). And if you look even closer, there's also a Neottia cordata leaf in the back!
#wildorchids @wildorchids #wildflower #inaturalist #bloomscrolling
Epipactis purpurata is one of the latest flowering Epipactis here. They are pollinated by wasps who are attracted by its smell. However the nectar sometimes contains alcohol, which makes them drunk. I found a plant with several confused and sluggish wasps climbing around, some even falling down to the ground asleep. I assume I witnessed this drunk-pollinator scenario 😄
#inaturalist #wildorchids @wildorchids #wildflowers #bloomscrolling