Sicily Day 1

9th April 2019

Roadside, Mt Grosso (37ų 5'46.98"N 14ų58'45.71"E)

Though we had a route and stops planed from the notes kindly shred by others, I wanted to find sites of my own, and so screeched to a halt after spotting some pale orchids on a roadside bank. Stepping out of the car, a couple of hundred metres further down (a safe spot to park) I immediately found a small group of Ophrys bertolonii. Such wonderful furry labellums! We explored the bank over those two hundred metres and that small area of flat ground above, and found a host of different species. Sorting out what was what was going to take some time for some of the Ophrys and Serapias species, but some species were quite easy to identify.

In total, from an unscheduled stop having spotted a few spikes, we found Ophrys bertolonii, Op tenthedrinifera ssp grandiflora*, Op bombilifera, Op lutea, Op panoramitana*, Op incubacea*, Op speculum, Op fusca ssp. gackiae*, Op lunulata*, Orchis italica, Neotinea lactea, and Serapias orientalis ssp siciliensis*, as well as a possible Ophrys hybrid. That's 12 species in total and 5 (marked with an *) that were totally new to me.

Ophrys tenthedrinifera x2, Op bombilifera and Op lutea (the easier species to ID)

Ophrys panoramitana and Op incubacea x3

Ophrys speculum, Op, fusca x2 and a possible hybrid Op. panoramamitea x incubacea

Ophrys lunulata

The inevitable Orchis italica, Neotinea lactea x2, and Serapias orientalis ssp siciliensis

By the Pantalica Visitor Centre (37ų 7'20.11"N 14ų58'35.01"E)

Along a dead-end road to the Pantalika Necropolis (Strada Regionale 11) from the village of Ferla (a couple of friendly bars or cafes offer refreshments) you come to the Visitor Centre, which boasts public WCs! We explored the roadside both sides of the road for a few hundred yards.
There were some species here that were found at the first site, but there were also some exciting new finds - both Ophrys oxyrrhynchos ssp biancae and Op oxyrrhynchos ssp calliantha. there was also Serapias bergonii (seen previously on Crete), S. orientalis siciliensis again and Himantoglossum robertianum well after being in flower.

Two shots each of Ophrys oxyrhynchos ssp biancae and Op oxyrhynchos ssp calliantha

Ophrys sicula, Op speculum and Op panoramamita

Ophrys lunulata; the second showing labellum deformity

Serapias bergonii, S orientalis siciliensis, Orchis italica, and Himantoglossum robertianum

Pantalica Roadside (37ų07'40.6"N 14ų59'31.7"E)

Heading a bit further along the road there were splashes of purple along a roadside bank (with accessible woodland beyond(- Anacamptis longicornu*, another new species for me. There were pale flowers, deep purple flowers, and some very attractive two-tone specimens which couldn't make up the minds which shade of purple was best. There were more Neotinia lactea looking pallid and living up to their name, including a pure white plant which appears a bit deformed, but refused to photograph nicely. The Ophrys lunulata could grow fairly tall in the shade, and the Op. sicula were going over a bit. However the star of the site was a single specimen of Ophrys oxyrrynchos ssp. oxyrrhynchos*. That made three subspecies of the same species within a mile of each other, and two of them endemic to Sicily.

Anacamptis longicornu

Neotinea lactea

Ophrys lunulata, sicula and oxyrrhynchos oxyrrhynchos

Pantalica Necropolis (37ų 8'21.54"N 15ų 1'57.76"E)

We drove to the end of the road to a gorge where centuries ago the dead we interred in tombs carved into the limestone cliffs. There are hundreds of such tombs here, and examples of others across the area. To access the other side of the gorge would mean a 25 mile round trip. The pathe leading down to the panoramic views provided a few more orchid sightings. Orchis italica glowing un the sunshine, and a fine cluster of Ophrys panoramitana

Another Hillock (37ų 0'50.89"N 15ų 1'22.36"E)

On the journey back to Siracusa along Strada Provinciale N 14 a limestone hilllock hoved into view looking like an orchid site should look like. Fortunately there was a good place to park by the easiest place to cross a drainage ditch and right in front of us were a group of rather diminuative Orchis anthropophora. Right alongside them, almost hidden, another first for Sicily - Anacamptis papilionacea ssp. grandiflora*. This site had a different flora to the Pantalica area, and some specimens would require much head-scratching to match an ID, though there was the seemigly ubiquitous Ophrys tenthedrenifera grandiflora, but no complaints about that. There were typical examples of these, with bright pink and yellow showing up, but there were some unusual forms. Pictured below are one with the labellum splayed outwards instead of curving under as is ususual, one very pale and almost apigmentous which in fact just be going over, and one that could well be a hybrid - Op. tenthedrenifera x oxyrrhynchos*
The yellow bee orchids were represented by the large flowering Op. lutea and the much smaller op. sicula. You didn't need them growing side by side to appreciate the difference in size. However it was the Op. fusca types which caused most difficulty in identification. Almost certainly there was a Sicilian endemic, either Op subfusca ssp. archimedea*, named after Siracusa's most famous son or ssp. flameola. I am veering towards the latter in terms of overall labellum appearance. Then there seems to be three subspecies of Ophrys fusca, all Sicilina endemics, on this hillock - Ophrys fusca ssp. caesiella*, Op. fusca ssp calocaerina* and Op. fusca ssp. gackiae. While this does seem improbable, they all share a flowering time and habitat, and whilst photographing them it was obvious that they were more unalike than at first glance. They do match the photoas and description in Orchidee d'Italia.
Other species previously seen today are Ophrys panoramitana, Op. incubacea and Ophrys oxyrrhynchos ssp. bianchae