Wild Flower Wednesday. Giant orchid. – Himantoglossum robertianum

I am joining in withClay and Limestone‘s meme of Wild blossom Wednesday this month . I discovered this amazing orchid last calendar week acquire on the roadside near Grimaud on the Cote d’Azur in France . My scream of ‘ Stop the Car ! ’ virtually caused an stroke . fortuitously we find somewhere to park the car safely and walk back to have a spirit . It obviously was an Orchid but I had no idea they come as big as this . To determine such an enormous Orchid in peak in February was quite surreal . It has prominent glossy unripened leaves and a bloom spike of pinky- purple flowers which apparently can be as marvellous as a metre high although these were n’t quite as vainglorious as that .

All this and fragrance too . It smells lightly of violets .

The name of this orchid wasBarlia robertianauntil as recently as 1999 . Jean - Baptiste Barla was a French phytologist and Gaspard Nicolas Robert was also a botanist . This adorable orchid was named after both of them . Now it has been reclassified asHimantoglossumwhich are lizard orchids . However there is still disagreement about the compartmentalisation so it could deepen again . Perhaps we could dumbfound with Giant Orchid and then there is no disarray . The orchidaceous plant is quite localised in several Mediterranean countries .

I found another bigger area of them a daytime or two afterward on the glide and was confused to see that some of them had been dug up . I am certain they are on the crimson list and so protected . Not only is digging up these beautiful plant life illegal , selfish and irresponsible but it is most likely a death judgment of conviction for the plant . They are unlikely to thrive in the garden where the fungus they count on is absent .

give thanks you to Gail ofClay and Limestonefor hosting this meme of Wildflower Wednesday on the quaternary Wednesday of every calendar month . Why do n’t you get together in ?

34 Responses toWild Flower Wednesday. Giant orchid. – Himantoglossum robertianum

Oh , I would love to have been in the cable car when you yell for it to stop ! I belike would have been shout too . What a stunning wild flower to witness at the side of the road . And what a disgrace that someone dug some of them up . Thanks for share this experience with us .

A wild flower orchid – how wondrous !

That is awing Chloris – I have never seen anything like that & in February – do you reckon it is because it has been a mild winter in France or is this the normal blossoming time ?

Now that ’s a looker Chloris but how sad to understand that there are the great unwashed who are not content to stop and look up to but alternatively remove them from their natural environment . Most relieve to read that an accident was averted 🙂

Those are gorgeous and unusual works you have share with us . So beautiful in the state of nature . It ’s so disappointing that someone removed a few and hopefully the remaining plants will continue to spread .

It is a beautiful plant . Like all orchids it is a bit “ out of this world ” , is n’t it ? They are not touch on to Triffids by any chance ? I do n’t suppose so . If they were , they could represent themselves against plant life poacher .

I live now in Nice and just discovered this today on Mont Boron . More scattered , but lots of them , interestingly not in the region where people take the air – I surmise they get picked . I had to do some scrambling to see them . Your story about ‘ stop the car ’ reminds me that when I propel to Canada many year ago from the UK I did incisively the same thing when I see Trilliums . Brobdingnagian patch by the main road – I nearly caused a multi - car pileup . In the UK you get one flower in a medical specialist ’s garden and everyone comes to devote court !

Wild Flower Wednesday. Giant orchid. – Himantoglossum robertianum