Wild orchids

[Celcat]

Hello to everyone,

My mum sent 2 pics of wild orchids that she has spotted while she was hiking. I thought I should share with you geeks. My mum live in south of France. She does hike quite a lot ( she is more active than, I feel ashamed) and sometimes, she finds little gems like these ones

I do not know the names , I should ask my mum, she does. But I am sure, you can help

Have a good day

[kmarch]

I can help a little with the names.

I think the first one is probably an Orchis, possibly Orchis purpurea which is a dark purple-ish. I believe at least some Orchis dwell in Europe so this is a possibility.

I'm pretty sure the second one is a Serapias species of some kind. Serapias are terrestrial orchids that grow in Mediterranean areas, so no surprise to find one in the south of France.

[jbigio]

Kevin
are there any orchids you dont know? impresive

[patticake]

Kevin rules!

Celcat, Those pictures are great! I would love to see orchids in the wild!

[Celcat]

Thank you Kevin
My mum knows the common name of these orchids that local folks give to them. Something like bees something... hmmm... I should ask her.
I would love to see orchids in the wild, but first I should stop going to the garden centres and go out more of my "orchid flat"!
I think I should go to a special orchid vacation

[kmarch]

Yes, jbigio, there are thousands of orchids I don't know about but these 2 were memorable for very particular reasons:

Orchis - This is the genus for which some of the species look like little dolls or clowns so I remembered this genus from a long time ago when I was just starting to learn about orchids and these were funny and odd orchids. I thought the flowers looked like Orchis but I did look up Orchid purpurea so I didn't know that part off the top of my head.

Serapias - I remembered this genus because the flowers have these long pointed lips that to my mind resembled tongues of raw meat....yick... They are quite distinctive in their appearance and memorable because of the flap of raw meat thing.

Now what i can't be at all sure about is precisely what species these pics are of. It would take much more than a picture in situ to tell for sure.

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by jbigio

Kevin
are there any orchids you don't know? impresive

just the ones he don't know which i also don't know.So now i am telling you which i know that
i don't know.

i just a messed up guy.

[fred]

you know digitalgate
I some times wonder where you are coming from with posts like that

[jay]

Very nice orchids. I would love to be able to see some in the wild. I may have to take a vacation to do some orchid sight seeing. Thanks for the inspiration.

[orchid_girl]

They are very pretty orchids!! There is just something about seeing any kind of flower in the wild...they just have different kind of beauty.

[kid a]

Your mum is lucky! I have not seen a wild either. When I went to the last show here in Indy they had a photo display of orchids they had found in the wild in Indiana. That is sooo cool!

[Celcat]

There are orchids in most places. I guess we are either too lazy to get out and look for them in our countryside (like me ) or we may find the bloom not impressive enough as the paph or dendrobium or miltoniopsis. Or we may just not recognize them as an orchid when we see them.
It seems that May and June are good months to spot hard orchids in France and UK. I had even a friend who had an invasion of wild orchids in her garden!!! She was delighted, except, they grow everywhere but on the border and she has kids. So her problem was, knowing that some were protected species:
1-Ban the kids from the garden
2-Move with care the chids to a safer place,

I wonder what you would have done, you geeks???

[kmarch]

I'd have done #1. It won't kill the kids to be banned form the garden for a couple of months whereas it might kill the orchids to move them.

[BillC]

Freddie, Digigate comes from Singapore, says so in the top right hand corner of the post.

Bill

[fred]

lol I know that Bill
its the post that I am referring to

[solay]

I think Digigate just had a brain fart as I call it. Temporary mental malfunction. Ha! Ha! Ha! Happens to me sometimes too.

Wild orchids are so special since it's not everyday you see them. I guess we could all take a orchid trip to the Amazon rain forest or something. We need to plan a Orchid Geek field trip. Wouldn't that be nice.