Komper’s orchid, Oak orchid (Rare)
The difficulties experienced in the morphological differentiations of species of the Orchidaceae family have resulted in changes in the names of many plant species even down at the genus level. Of this, one of the best examples is Himantoglossum comperianum. The species was evaluated as part of the genus Orchis when it was first introduced to the scientific community, and was published as Orchis comperiana. It was later separated from this genus because of its four, long and quite thin labellum segments and it was consisted a monotypic genus with a single species and named as Comperia comperiana. Then, as a result of recent studies carried out, all taxa with this characteristic were evaluated under the genus Himantoglossum,. Thus the valid name of this taxon is now known as Himantoglossum comperianum (Deniz, 2012). Komper’s orchid which flowers during April-May is generally distributed at altitudes ranging between 500-1750 m. The plant can reach heights of 60 cm. There are 3-4 leaves which are of oblong-lanceolate shapes. The sepals are closed and hooded in shape, with colours ranging from olive green to stained purple. Labellum has three lobes, reddish at the base or white in colour. The middle lobe is bipartite, all lobes have a fine structure which is filiform and is curled downwards.
Reference: Deniz, İ.G. 2012. Orchidaceae, Himantoglossum, Ophrys. In: Güner A., Aslan S., Ekim T., Vural M. & Babaç, M.T. (edlr). Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul.
