Ophrys sphegodes subsp. helenae, (Renz) Soo & D. Moresby Moore, 1978

D. M. Moore (ed.), 1980, CCIII Orchidaceae, Flora Europaea, Vol 5: Alismataceae to Orchidaceae, Camebridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 325-350 : 347

(g) Subsp. helenae (Renz) Soö & D. Moresby Moore ,

Bot. Jour. Linn. Soc. 76: 367 (1978) (O. helenae Renz )-.

Perianth- segments dark green. Labellum 11-13 x 16-19mm, without basal protuberances, brown to reddish or violet, irregularly spotted, shortly velutinous; speculum indistinct, 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.) Soö, Acta Bot. Acad. Sei. 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. Zeitschr. 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, PI. 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 Soö, Bot. Jour. Linn. Soc. 76: 367 (1978). 78