Ophrys xvernolensis, a new hybrid between Ophrys apulica and Ophrys lutea, found in Salento (Southern Italy)

Abstract

During the survey of spontaneous orchids in the surroundings of Lecce, in the 2023 season, we were contacted by colleagues about the discovery of a rare hybrid in the countryside of Acquarica di Lecce, a hamlet of the Municipality of Vernole (Lecce). This entity has been identified as a new and rare hybrid deriving from a cross between Ophrys apulica and Ophrys lutea which we have called Ophrys ×vernolensis from the name of the town of Vernole in whose territory the hamlet of Acquarica di Lecce falls. This hybrid was a single specimen in an environmental context represented by garrigue with extensive outcrops of limestone rock and sub-steppe vegetation. The specimen showed intermediate characteristics between O. lutea, mainly for the oval median sepal folded over the gynostemium with edges slightly turned backwards, of a greenish-yellow colour, for the sub-rectangular petals, for the entire shape of the labellum without humps and with a yellowish marginal band, due to the triangular shape of the stigma, the absence of pseudoeyes, and other elements of taxonomic importance; instead it recalled O. apulica for its extended petals, for the longitudinally folded labellum and its general brownish colour, the complex and wide macula, its stigmatic cavity crossed transversally by a wide brownish band and for other morphological traits. There are also many intermediate elements between the parents. The morphological characteristics allowed us to easily trace the parents, but this task was certainly facilitated by the sympatric presence of the two parental species, both in full flowering. Finally, the rich population of Ophrys apulica present in thousands of specimens in an otherwise limited space aroused amazement.