Orchids on Pelješac

Orchid enthusiast Frank Verhart continued his researches into European orchids during 2016. He found much of interest on the Pelješac peninsula.

Orchis tridentata Orchis tridentata Photo: Frank Verhart

Frank Verhart from the Netherlands has lifelong experience looking out for orchids, and his expertise increases year on year. In 2015 he explored the Dalmatian islands of Hvar and Brač as the guest of Eco Hvar, and introduced many to the magic of the often tiny treasures to be found in woodlands, fields, gardens and roadsides. He was able to show why it is so important to look after these protected plants, as they all too easily get overlooked when individuals and local authorities spray areas with herbicides, and as a result of thoughtless fly-tipping in the countryside. Mapping where the orchids are to be found plays a key role in their protection. Frank logs his orchid findings with care, resulting in detailed maps for the records. In his identifications and classifications, he uses the taxonomy from the standard work by the Belgian expert Pierre Delforge, 'Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East', published by Christopher Helm Publishers, 2006.

Aceras anthropophorum (Man orchid). Photo: Frank Verhart

Over several years, Frank has generously been sharing his detailed findings with Prof.dr.sc. Toni Nikolić at the Department of Botany in the Biology Division of Zagreb's Science University, who is responsible for compiling the full listing of Croatia's plants, the Flora Croatica Database.

Ophrys tommasinii. Photo: Frank Verhart

In 2016, Frank visited France and Croatia, by way of Slovenia. As he reports: "all still and as usual by hitch-hiking. On the way [to Croatia] I have visited and stayed overnight at Miran Ipavec's Autostoparski Muzej (Hitch-hiking Museum) in Bled, Slovenia. Miran is maybe the most experienced hitch-hiker, distance wise, in Slovenia.. I’ve again been able to do some very cool observations, especially Orchis ustulata and Cephalanthera damasonium (Burnt orchid and White helleborine) as they have never been reported from Pelješac before, and I am fairly confident indeed, that there are no official reports of those. The latter has recently been found by Croatian botanists for the first time on Mljet 2012 and Korčula 2013, I think this is quite remarkable..."

Orchis ustulata. Photo: Frank Verhart

The Orchis ustulata (neotinea ustulata, burnt orchid, burnt-tip orchid) is fairly common across Europe, to which it is native, but is considered endangered in the United Kingdom, according to the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. That said, Kew reports that there has been a significant decline in central Europe "due to habitat destruction as a result of building, quarrying and, in particular, more intense agricultural practices. Burnt-tip orchids can only survive in unfertilised, unploughed grassland due to their protracted underground growth period. In addition, where grazing is discontinued burnt-tip orchid is liable to decline because its small size means it cannot survive in long grass."

Cephalanthera damasonium. Photo: Frank Verhart

The Cephalanthera damasonium (White helleborine) which Frank identified on Pelješac is very rare on the peninsula, and this is its first entry on the Zagreb database. In Croatia it is considered endangered and is strictly protected. In the United Kingdom, by contrast, it is considered widespread, despite the loss of woodlands which are its natural habitat. The Cephalanthera damasonium develops slowly. One was nurtured with loving care over more than ten years in the grounds outside an Oxford brain research unit (MRC Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit), only to be mowed down one day in a thoughtless 'tidying up' landscaping operation, Maintenance of public green spaces should be based on an appreciation of the wonderful gifts of wild plants which they can bring. All too often there is a policy of suppressing anything which grows naturally, whether with herbicides, mowers or strimmers. In Croatia, and elsewhere, this means that the concept of protecting wild plants like orchids is completely disregarded.

Epipactis microphylla, flowering early, 22.04.2016. Photo: Frank Verhart

Another uncommon finding by Frank: "Epipactis microphylla (Small leaved helleborine) was reported for the first time from Pelješac in 2013, I found it as well in two plants in a different part of the peninsula." Frank also reported that it was flowering unusually early, on April 22nd 2016.

Ophrys bombyliflora. Photo: Frank Verhart

The Ophrys bombyliflora, another rare finding on Pelješac, gave Frank particular pleasure: "oh what a joy to see Ophrys bombyliflora again on Pelješac, after I had seen it in 1998 for the last (and only) time on Rhodos...! By heart I believe that Zagreb University has just one record of this species for Pelješac, and I have now reported them in another three locations."

Serapias ionica. Photo: Frank Verhart

The Serapias ionica is another rare find on Pelješac. It was first identified in 1988 on Cephalonia in Greece. It is thought to be found only on the Ionian Greek and Southern Dalmatian Croatian islands, but there is some hope that it might also appear on the mainland. On the coast, the Serapias ionica is felt to be at risk from agriculture and building development, especially in places where tourism is important to the local economy.

Orchis morio. Photo: Frank Verhart

Besides the rare findings on Pelješac, Frank observed many more familiar orchids. However, a couple appeared in unusual colours, notably the orchis morio (pictured above), and the orchis italica (below).

Orchis italica, unusual colour. Photo: Frank Verhart

One comment on Frank's picture gallery suggested that the Orchis italica colour might have been affected by radiation or pollution.

Anacamptis pyramidalis. Photo: Frank Verhart
Frank's trained eye can spot even the humblest orchid hidden among a host of other plants. Orchids also grow in specially vulnerable places like roadsides, where they are in danger of being crushed by carelessly parked cars, or even irresponsibly discarded rubbish. More awareness of the exquisite natural gifts all around us would allow these beautiful plants to flourish safely for generations to come. Without more care, there is great danger that many will be irredeemably lost.
To read Frank's detailed account of his observations of orchids in Croatia, click here.
To see more of Frank's gallery of orchid pictures from Pelješac on Facebook, click here - you need to have a Facebook account to access the page.
Key reference work: Delforge, Pierre, 2006. 'Orchids of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East', published by Christopher Helm Publishers. ISBN: 13: 9780713675252
Eco Hvar is extremely grateful to Frank Verhart for continuing to share his orchid explorations with us.
© Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2017
 
Nalazite se ovdje: Home Novosti iz prirode Orchids on Pelješac

Eco Environment News feeds

  • About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority

    • The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89% Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more

    A superpower in the fight against global heating is hiding in plain sight. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of people in the world – between 80% and 89%, according to a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies – want their governments to take stronger climate action.

    As co-founders of a non-profit that studies news coverage of climate change, those findings surprised even us. And they are a sharp rebuttal to the Trump administration’s efforts to attack anyone who does care about the climate crisis.

    Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are the co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now

    Continue reading...

  • Discovery could provide valuable clues as to how the climate crisis might affect Antarctica, says study

    Giant, flat-topped icebergs the size of the city of Cambridge drifted off the coast of Britain during the last ice age, according to a study that has uncovered evidence of their existence for the first time.

    A series of distinctive, comb-like grooves found preserved in sediment near Aberdeen in Scotland were left behind by the underside of huge “tabular” icebergs that dragged across the North Sea floor between 18,000 and 20,000 years ago, the researchers said.

    Continue reading...

  • Campaigners condemn decision amid growing evidence of harm to health and climate from heating appliances

    Wood-burning stoves will be allowed to heat new-build homes in England despite growing evidence showing their significant contribution to air pollution and carbon emissions.

    The government is writing its future homes standard, a set of rules for developers, aimed at decarbonising England’s housing stock. Heating the UK’s 28m homes accounts for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.

    Continue reading...

  • Birds in their 40s wintering on mudflats of the Wash received leg rings in early 1980s

    If your ears are assaulted by the shrill piping calls of an excitable bird on the east coast of England, fear not: it’s probably an oystercatcher experiencing a midlife crisis.

    Two of the handsome black and white birds with bright red-orange bills have been found to be the oldest known oystercatchers ever recorded in Britain, clocking up at least 41 and 43 years on the mudflats of the Wash.

    Continue reading...

  • Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy – part of a growing trend of trafficking ‘less conspicuous’ creatures for sale as exotic pets

    Poaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country’s iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.

    The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.

    Continue reading...

  • The Marches, Shropshire: In this garden we’ve had woolly aphids, rose aphids, whitefly and blackfly, now we have Californian maple aphids, who have a story of their own

    An accidental touch of a branch brings a handful of little sticky dots. Looking at the branch, the surprise is that all the lower ones are covered with a shifting pointillism of dots moving together. Under a hand lens they become autonomous animals – aphids.

    There are thousands of them, moving independently as individuals, each with a sense of purpose and moment, determined and working together. Forming clusters around scar tissue on bark wounds, walking upwards towards the canopy of opening leaves, the aphids catch the sunlight and their amber bodies shine with the viscosity of drops of honey. In the morning sun they cast shadows, an imaginary material to which old fears and prejudices stick.

    Continue reading...

  • Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump

    Continue reading...

  • The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez ‘arbitrary’, while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico’s environmental activists

    The meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as “First things first”, “Live and let live” and “Little by little, you’ll go far”.

    Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments – and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘As a species, these crocs are easy to find and easy to catch. Brice Itoua is the most skilled hunter in his village. But they kill the crocs to eat – not to sell’

    The Congo dwarf crocodile is a lovely species. They’re very shy and, unfortunately, very easy to find and catch. Mostly hunted for their bushmeat, these crocs only grow up to a few feet in length and during the dry season, they often spend the daytime hiding in burrows and dens at the water’s edge. Hunters use a long, woody liana vine with a hook on the end to drag them out, before binding their snout with a shorter vine and carrying them away.

    Last summer, I shot a story about the Congo dwarf crocodile after being given access to the Lake Télé Community Reserve by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which manages this protected area in the Republic of the Congo with the Congolese government.

    Continue reading...

  • Rock deposits provide first land-based evidence of Earth’s largest flood, when water surged through strait of Gibraltar

    The event that refilled the Mediterranean basin 5m years ago is thought to have been the largest flood in Earth’s history, with water surging through the present-day strait of Gibraltar 1,000 times faster than the Amazon River, filling the basin in just a couple of years. Now jumbled rock deposits on the top of hills in south-east Sicily provide the first land-based evidence for this flood.

    The megaflood theory emerged in 2009, when scientists discovered a massive eroded channel at the bottom of the strait of Gibraltar. Subsequent research has revealed scours on the sea floor, showing how the water forced its way through the shallow gap between Sicily and mainland Africa, to fill the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen