Family: orchids (Orchidaceae)
Flowering time: May–June
Size: 15–30 cm
Habitat: dry meadows, bright forests and forest edges
The bee orchid (Ophrys holoserica) has two to four elongate, oval, blunt leaves fused into a leaf rosette. The stem also bears a pair of narrow, pointed stem leaves. The collar-like inflorescence forms up to ten flowers. The entire honey lip has on its lower edge a protruding greenish appendage. It is 14 to 20 mm wide and brown velvety-haired. A bare, colorful patch on the honey lip forms the omega symbol (Ω). The outer petals are white to pink, with green in the middle. The inner lateral petal is at most half as long as the outer.
The bee orchid grows here and there in central, western and southern Slovenia on dry, poor soils. In Slovenia it is protected and listed on the Red List of endangered plants.
