Ophrys sphegodes subsp. helenae

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 347

(g) Subsp. helenae (Renz) Soó & D. Moresby Moore , Bot. Jour. Linn. Soc. 76: 367 (1978)

( O. helenae Renz ):

Perianthsegments dark green. Labellum 11-13 x 16-19 mm, without basal protuberances, brown to reddish or violet, irregularly spotted, shortlyvelutinous; speculumindistinct, velutinous. • N. W. Greece.

Variants of 6 from Greece and Kriti with the labellum more or less 3-lobed, without or with only small basal protuberances, blackish-brown or purple and often with a white or yellowish margin, and speculum variously shaped, have been called subsp. parnassica (Vierh.) Soó , Acta Bot. Acad. Sci. Hung. 5: 444 (1959) ( O. sphaciotica Fleischm. ); they are intermediate between 6 and 7 and are probably of hybrid origin. O. doerfleri Fleischm. , Österr. Bot. Zeitsehr. 74: 185 (1925), is perhaps of similar origin.

Variants of subsp. (a) from France, Spain and Italy, with pinkish outer perianth-segments, the labellum up to 12 x 16 mm and a large speculum which often covers the labellum, have been named O. garganica (E. Nelson) O. & E. Danesch , Pl. Syst. Evol. 124: 94 (1975). Variants from S. Italy and Sicilia, with a dense 10- to 15-flowered spike, white to violet outer perianth-segments and the labellum up to 15 mm, have been named subsp. sicula E. Nelson ex Soó , Bot. Jour. Linn. Soc. 76: 367 (1978).