Nomenclature

Species name:

Ophrys caesiella   P. Delforge

Author(s):

Pierre Delforge;
   Belgium, 20th Century

General names:

Maltese Brown Orchid

Maltese name:

Dubbiena ta' Malta

Plant Family:

Orchidaceae   (Orchid Family)

Name Derivation:

Ophrys = "Eyebrow", referring to the furry edges of the lips of several species. (Greek);
caesiella = Caesi- stands for the colour blue (caesia), and the ending -ella means small. Hence, the epithet refers to the small labellum with a (light) blue speculum. (Latin)

Synonyms:

Ophrys fusca s.l.

Remarks:

This species was previously placed under - Ophrys fusca s.l. - a complex aggregate which is being split into different new species. It is a sub-endemic plant and so far it has been reported only from Malta and Sicily. -

Botanical Data

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Garigue, Steppes, disturbed rocky ground

Frequency:

Infrequent

Sources in Malta:

Very Rare, reported only in two localities in the Northern part of Malta. Exact localities are kept undisclosed to protect the plant.

Plant Height:

8-22cm.

Flowering Time:

Feb - Mar

Poison:

Unlikely to be poisonous.

This Orchid is a sub-endemic species recentely split from the Ophrys fusca complex into an own taxon by Delforge. It is usually a low growing plant (6-10cm c.) but can reach 20cm or more in shady habitats. The leaves are arranged as a basal rosette, with the younger one growing erect and sheathing the peduncle (flowering stalk). Leaves have a broad oval shape with a blunt tip. The parallel veins of the leaves are well visible which have finer interconnecting veins in between. The tips or edges are easily blackened by wind currents.

Ophrys caesiella flowers in Malta between mid February to March. The main distin of this species from others in the Ophrys fusca complex are the following:

1. Labellum size is relatively small, ranging between 8.5mm to 12.5mm (11mm on avergae).
2. Labellum have a marked yellow-green border - about 1mm wide.
3. Indumentum (hairs) are found evenly at many areas of the labellum and stigmatic cavity, but are absent at the longitudinal furrow at the centre of the speculum.
4. No red coloration (or just a very faint one) at the underside of the labellum.
5. Colour of speculum is often light/metallic blue.

The morphology of the fruit and seeds is similar to the other species of the Ophrys fusca complex.

Additional Information

Nativity and distribution

Ophrys caesiella was first described from the North of Malta by P.DELFORGE in year 2000 and published in Natural Belges 81,3 (Orchid.13) p.233. Briefly, he described this species as rather small-bloomed with a labellum length of 9 to 13 mm, and early in flower. The labellum has velvety brown to purple pilosity and a bright blue labellum. Its petals are much shorter than the petals of the similar Ophrys obaesa. [WWW-142] . It grows in full sun, on alcaline substrates to an altitude of almost 500m and flowers quite early, in February and March. The lip is quite tranversally convex and almost horizontally hold. Its lateral lobes make with the main axis an angle of 26-31°, which is less than for O. bilunulata by which it varies between 35° and 39°. O. bilunulata also flowers later, in March-April. [WWW-143]

Most probably PAULUS in Jour.Eur.Orch. 33 (1) p.141-142 means Ophrys caesiella, when he calls the smaller flowered of the two fusca s.l. of Malta an 'Ophrys leucadica in a locally form', which is pollinated by Zonandrena flavipes. [WWW-142]

DELFORGE also considers specimens found in South of Sicily as Ophrys caesiella. Hence, this plant is a sub-endemic to Sicily and Malta. [WWW-142]

Pseudo-copulation Pollination

Nearly all Ophrys species are sexual cheating flowers, each of them specialized in one or few species of insects, usually solitary bees, in few other cases solitary wasps or beetles. The flower is producing the specific pheromone of the female insect, with which it is attracting the male insects, which are appearing before the females. Also shape, pilosity, and other details of the labellum are copying the female insect sufficienly, so the swindle doesn't come up immediately. [WWW-142]

There are two types of pollination:

1. Abdominal pollination - Abdomen of pollinator is close to the stigmatic cavity (mouth of flower)
2. Head pollination - Head of pollinator is close to the stigmatic cavity (mouth of flower)

In both types, the pollinium glues itself to the body (head or abdomen) of the insect thanks to its highly sticky base. Eventually, the pollinium detach itself entirely from the flower when the male insect flies away. Later when the pollinator is attracted by another orchid of the same species, the glued pollinia come into the stigmatic cavity and pollination occurs. Ophrys flowers don't produce nectar, so the insect doesn't get any return for the pollination of the orchid, instead the male insect gets a fake copulation, hence the name of this pollination type - pseudo-copulation pollination. [WWW-142]

For Ophrys caesiella, the pollinator is the yellow legged mining bee Andrena flavipes (=Zonandrena flavipes) and the pollination type is abdominal. {Click here for viewing an image} [WWW-142]

Species of the Ophrys fusca complex.

This complex or aggregate is made up of 26 species which are closely related to each other and previously they where referred to as Ophry fusca s.l. The main charactaristic of this group is that of having an acute angle of about 28-45 degrees between the margin of the labellum and the longitudinal axis. Also, they do not have plataeus at the rim near the mouth (as in the Iricolor complex). Species with wider angles are placed in the sub-fusca group. The Ophrys fusca complex is mainly of occidental distribution, with species endemic to Crete, Malta-Sicily, Corsicas and Tunisia. [WWW-147]

1. Ophrys arnoldii    P. Delforge
2. Ophrys attaviria    D. Rückbrodt & Wenker
3. Ophrys bilunulata    Risso (Distribution is still poorly known, may be found in Malta)
4. Ophrys caesiella    P. Delforge (The species was originally discovered on Malta but also found later in the south of Sicily)
5. Ophrys creberrima    H. F. Paulus
6. Ophrys cressa    H. F. Paulus (This species appears to be endemic to the east of Minos' island.)
7. Ophrys creticola   H. F. Paulus (This quite rare species appears to be endemic to some Cretan mountains)
8. Ophrys delforgei    P. Devillers & J. Devillers - Terschuren (This is the "O. fusca" form with the smallest flowers in continental France)
9. Ophrys eptapigiensis    H.F. Paulus
10. Ophrys forestieri   (Reichenbach Fil.) Lojacono
11. Ophrys funerea    Viviani
12. Ophrys fusca    Link (First described in Portugal, but most probably grows in many places of the western Mediterranean basin. Found in Malta)
13. Ophrys hespera    J. Devillers-Terschuren & P. Devillers
14. Ophrys leucadica    Renz
15. Ophrys lucifera    J. Devillers - Terschuren & P. Devillers (It grows in Italy, Tuscany, Sicily and maybe in other places of the central Mediterranean basin. Its distribution area, like that of O. fusca is not yet well understood.)
16. Ophrys lupercalis    J. Devillers-Terschuren & P. Devillers (This is a very early flowering plant in the South of France. It (or similar species) appears to be found in Malta)
17. Ophrys marmorata    G. Foelsche & W. Foelsche
18. Ophrys obaesa    Lojacono
19. Ophrys pallid   a Rafinesque
20. Ophrys parvula    H. F. Paulus
21. Ophrys peraiolae    Foelsche W., Foelsche G., Gerbaud O. & Gerbaud M. (This species appears to be endemic to a very small region close to the cove of Peraiola on the northeastern coast of Corsica)
22. Ophrys perpusilla    J. Devillers - Terschuren & P. Devillers
23. Ophrys sabulosa    H. F. Paulus & Gack ex P. Delforge
24. Ophrys sulcata    J. Devillers-Terschuren & P. Devillers
25. Ophrys thriptiensis    H. F. Paulus
26. Ophrys zonata    J. Devillers - Terschuren & P. Devillers

Karyomorphology, heterochromatin patterns and evolution in the genus Ophrys (Orchidaceae)

Karyotype structures and heterochromatin distribution in representative taxa of the genus Ophrys are compared, based on Feulgen-stained and banded somatic metaphase chromosomes. The karyotypes of Ophrys iricolor, O. lupercalis, O. caesiella, O. lutea, O. lunulata, O. x. tardans, O. apifera, O. praecox, O. lacaitae and O. insectifera are described for the first time. The karyological analyses indicate the relationships among the species with respect to asymmetry indices and heterochromatin content. Chromosomal differences have been helpful in clarifying the taxonomic position of Ophrys species that do not have clear affinities. The representative species of Araniferae, Fuciflorae and Ophrys sections exhibited the most asymmetrical karyotypes, while chromosome complements of the O. fusca–O. lutea group, of O. tenthredinifera and of O. bombyliflora proved to be less asymmetrical. Weakly heterochromatic chromosomes, with heterochromatin present mostly in thin centromeric bands, characterize Ophrys C-banded karyotypes. Chromomycin A3 (CMA) staining revealed that the analysed species exhibit a weak pattern of CMA+ bands at centromeric, intercalary or telomeric regions. No DAPI bright blocks were observed. The significance of the karyological data is discussed with regard to the relationships between the analysed species. [389]

Personal Observations

Habitat
Photographs of this profile were based on 2 populations of Ophrys caesiella about 20m apart in a rocky habitat (steppe-garigue). One population consisted of 5 specimens very close to each other while the larger one had some 20-30 specimen distributed sparsely in an area of about 5x6m. Both populations where growing close to the Mediterranean Thyme (Thymbra capitata ). The smaller population was partly shaded and the largest specimen had a height of 20cm. The other population was in full sun and the average height of the plants was 8-10cm. [SM]

Photo Gallery

Photo of the small, reddish-brown flower with a pale bluish speculum.

Photo of the flower, where in this specimen the labellum measures 12.5mm, which is the upper limit of labellar length for Ophrys caesiella.

Photo showing lateral view of flower. Note the dense and even hairs (known as indumentum) on the labellum.

Photo of a flower against a mm scale, showing the small size of the labellum - about 10mm long. One distinctive feature of Ophrys caesiella is that of having a small labellum between 9 to 13mm.

Photo of a young flower which its labellum barely measured 9mm. The other tepals are green.

Close up of labellum of previous plant taken against light to show well the marked yellow-green margin of the labellum, also a characteristic feature for this species.

Close upPhoto of furrow between the speculum and the stigmatic cavity at the mouth of the flower. O. caesiella do not have hairs (indumentum) at the furrow, while the stigmatic cavity is often hairy.

Photo of a flower that have just blossomed, hence its up-curved margins.

Photo of the yellow-green margin of the labellum and its hairiness at the upper face.

Photo of another specimen with a rather spectacular labellum. The epithet 'caesi-' in caesiella refers to the light/pale blue speculum.

Photo of two flowers of the same plant. The labellar dense hair traps dust particles, as seen in the older flower.

Front view of flower showing the furrow, stigmatic cavity, and the pair of yellow-green pollinia sheltered by the hood-shaped structure formed by the upper tepals.

Photo of another Maltese Brown Orchid plant.

Photo of 2 flowers - note the contrasting yellow-green margin against the dark reddish-brown labellum.

Photo of same specimen of previousPhoto from a different angle.

Scanned and annotated image of the flower.

Scanned image of the flower with the lateral tepals removed.

Scanned image of the flower against a dark background. Labellum of this young flower measures 8.5mm.

Scanned image of the pollinia, column, and stigmatic cavity. There is white hair at the stigmatic cavity which disappears further down the labellum, hence at the central furrow of the speculum.

Scanned image of the lower side of the lip. It is green and seldom tinged by a hint of red.

Photo of a pollinium which contains several coherent (sticky) pollen grains. The base is highly sticky platform which adheres firmly with the body (abdomen) of the pollinator and get carried away entirely.

Photo of the broad ovate leaves with parallel veins.

Photo of leaves which are arranged as a basal rosette. The younger leaves grow erect and sheath around the flower stalk giving it further support.

Photo of a small population of plants in a rocky habitat (garigue). Plants are usually short (6-10cm) but can grow to 20cm as the specimen here.

Further Information and Links

Buy from and support MaltaWildPlants.com

Submit More Information