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I saw this orchid for the first time only a few years ago and was surprised at how well it blended into a grassy background. It is usually smaller in height than the average Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) which I see every year, not anywhere near as beautiful and the flower itself is much less like a fly than the bee orchid is like a bee. It tends to grow on basic soils. The left hand photo was a plant growing in a small patch of fertile ground between slabs of limestone pavement and the right hand plant in amongst the coarse vegetation at the edge of Lough Rinnamona close to Dactylorhiza traunsteineri (Irish Marsh Orchid).
Burren, County Clare Ireland 23rd May 2005
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Added on 29th May 2005