Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Liliopsida - Order: Orchidales - Family: Orchidaceae
Finding orchid hybrids in the wild is fascinating, but they are sometimes difficult to identify accurately. Two types of hybrids occur, those between orchids in the same genus (intrageneric hybrids) and those between orchids of different genera (intergeneric hybrids). Of these two types, the intergeneric hybrids are rarer. In both cases the variations of the flowers are as mystifying as those found in colonies of single species, even when they are physically very close to each other. Parentage of orchid hybrids is sometimes difficult to establish but, if you are lucky, examples of both species will be close to the hybrid making identification relatively easy even if the flowers vary in appearancve.
In the case of Serapicamptis capitata the parentage is fairly obvious and both parent species frequent the same habitats and are relatively common. Despite this the hybrid is extremely rare, having been subject to the serendipity of an insect successfully polinating a species of one genus with that of another.
The geographical range of this hybrid includes France, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Greece and the Balkans.
World Flora Organisation
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