Ophrys fusca or lupercalis.

[SteveC]

This Ophrys opened recently. Depending on your take on things there may be as few as 19 species of these or over 300.
So for the lumpers out there this is Ophrys fusca, the dull or sombre Ophrys.
For you splitters it is Ophrys lupercalis, named after the Roman festival of Lupercalia, celebrated in mid-February which is when this usually flowers.
I guess I am a lumper at heart, but I like the range of names that being a splitter gives you.

[WhiteRabbit]

Awesome!

[Andrew]

Where do the general views of the terrestrial grower/amateur naturalist community in the UK and Europe fit on the Kew => Delforge spectrum of naming these orchids? Do people generally favour fewer or more species?

[SteveC]

I think that feelings are really varied.
One thing is certain. Sellers are splitters. More species =more variety= more sales.
In the areas of the Mediterranean where the plants grow the splitters are in the majority. Endemics are good, not just because of a sense of local pride but because it helps conserve them. If you are trying to stop some property development then it helps if you a protecting a species which occurs only on your island rather than one which occurs all over the place.
As for the growers in the UK the whole taxonomy thing causes issues. A splitter, or just someone who is oblivious to the issue, calls a plant one thing and you can be sure that someone will contradict them, not always in the most friendly way. One one forum there are a few people that I call the "name police". I am sure that they sit with fingers poised on the keyboard waiting for a "wrong" name to appear.
I double label everything, with what I believe is the official name and what I bought it as. Sometimes the name ends up longer than the plant. But I am a lumper at heart, as I simply do not believe these minute differences make a species. I have always said that if there are 300+ Ophrys species then there must be a few dozen species of humans on the planet as the differences between us are just as big as those between the plants.
Overall the whole situation is a bit of a mess. The constant changing of names actually only succeeding in causing the sort of confusion that the whole scientific / Latin name system was meant to prevent.
Didn't you have some similar issues in Australia with Pterostylis?
Sorry for the essay, but you did ask! I suppose I could have just said "It's complicated."

[orchidsworld]

For me it's O. fusca... Delforge makes one species everytime he sees a variation in form, color or whatever he can find lol

[JPMC]

Nice one. Could you post an image of the whole plant?

[SteveC]

Your wish is my command.
This has never been a plant to grow very tall, nor to have many flowers, but it does double every year, so perhaps it chooses to put its energy there rather than flowering.

I now have six of this clone, the others are in two different pots where I am experimenting with the compost. Two of the smaller tubers are in a totally inorganic mix, perlite, pumice, grit, and are growing fine, but until I see next years replacement tubers I will not know how well this works. Two slightly larger tubers are in the same mix as these but sitting in a layer of gravel. They will flower soon.
If I have spare tubers of anything I tend to start experimenting with composts, looking at two things;
which grows best and which is best for avoiding the dreaded neck rot which is the curse of hardy growers everywhere.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by SteveC

The constant changing of names actually only succeeding in causing the sort of confusion that the whole scientific / Latin name system was meant to prevent.
Didn't you have some similar issues in Australia with Pterostylis?

Yes, several of the larger Australian genera were split up. The majority of people still use the lumped genera and the popularity of the split genera amongst botanists and laymen seems to vary between states. While changes in genus taxonomy are inconvenient, at least you don't actually lose any information about a given plant by changing the name, like you do when splitting and lumping species, so it's little more than a tom-ay-to/to-mar-to argument for non-scientists. Personally, I switch between names depending on who I'm talking to. All of my Australian terrestrials are labelled with the split genus names, though. The split genera of Pterostylis, Caladenia, Corybas, etc have different cultural requirements so labelling plants with the split names quickly tells me how to grow a plant. I'm much more interested in my labels being useful than 'correct'.