Ophrys cornuta Steven, Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 2: 175 (1809)

LSID: 647849-1

Synonyms
Ophrys arachnites f. cornuta (Steven) Bolzon, Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital. 1903: 40 (1903).
Ophrys arachnites var. cornuta (Steven) Fiori & Paol. in A. Fiori & al., Fl. Italia 1: 236 (1898).
Ophrys cerastes Devillers & Devillers-Tersch., Naturalistes Belges 85 (Orchid. 17): 234 (2004).
Ophrys fuciflora subsp. cornuta (Steven) H.Sund., Europ. Medit. Orchid., Ed. 3:39 (1980).
Ophrys holoserica subsp. cornuta (Steven) H.Sund., Taxon 24: 625 (1975).
Ophrys insectifera var. cornuta (Steven) Moggr., Nov. Actorum Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. German.
Nat. Cur. 35 (3): 13 (1869).
Ophrys kopetdagensis K.P. Popov & Neshat., Izv. Akad. Nauk Turkmensk. SSR, Ser. Biol. Nauk 1982 (4): 17 (1982). *
Ophrys oestrifera subsp. cornuta (Steven) K. Richt., Pl. Eur. 1: 264 (1890).
Ophrys oestrifera var. cornuta (Steven) Hayek, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 30 (3): 378 (1933).
Ophrys scolopax subsp. cornuta (Steven) E.G. Camus in EGCamus, P.Bergon & AACamus,
Monogr. Orchid .: 270 (1908).
Ophrys scolopax var. cornuta (Steven) Rchb.f. in H.G.L. Rchb., Icon. Fl. Germ. Helv. 13-14: 99 (1851).
*Remark
see Gölz et al. (2007: 303)

Diagnosis

Terra typica
Cachetia inferiore (Kisich)

Type
-

Oldest illustration
see Fig. 521/1 and Fig. 123/1.

Etymology
cornutus (Latin) = horned.

Possible confusion
East of the Adria-Ionian barrier A with O. heldreichii and O. umbilicata.

Variability
The distribution area of Ophrys cornuta is enormous, as is the altitude distribution. Therefore, varieties must be expected, which Steven already indicated in his first description and Biel (1999) showed.
Fig. 522/1: Observation map (blue: NG, yellow-brown: GBIF: 2020-09, red: Barrier A = Adriatic-Ionian Sea, black: distribution area of the nominate species,? Gargano, see p. 522).
According to the huge range of Ophrys cornuta, a lot of taxa have been described, like akcakarae,  akcaliensis, balcanica, banatica, bicornis, bremifera, cephaloniensis, cornutula, dodekanensis, elbursana, grandiflora, hippocratis, hygrophila, isaura, karadenizensis, kassandra, kreutzii, lemnosiana, leptomera, masticorum, minuscula, minutiflora, minutula, nestoris, orientalis, orphanidea, phrygia, rhodostephane, sappho, sepioides, stavri, ulupinara (list may be not complete). All listed taxa must be classified as a variety at most, because no taxon has its own distribution area (Hennecke 2021). It must also be emphasized that the differentiation of these taxa are sometimes very difficult in the field. In Turkey it is noticeable that there are very many locally restricted taxa, often in a small area with a large ecological amplitude, e.g. „isaura“.
What are Ophrys mattinatae and O. montis-gargani?
The Gargano is geologically connected with Dalmatia, which could be the reason that subsect. Tauruli also occurs there. This has to be clarified by molecular genetic investigations, because morphologically this is not possible.

Chromosome number
x = 18, 2n = 2x = 36 (Greilhuber & Ehrendorfer 1975, Bartolo et al. 2010, CCDB)

Ecology

Altitude distribution

General distribution