Image of Ghost orchid

Description:

Slo.: brezlistni nadbradec - syn.: Satyrium epipogium L - Habitat: steep mixed beech/spruce woods, regularly under beeches, south to southwest oriented mountain slope, in deep shade, calcareous ground, on places with little or no ground vegetation, partly protected from direct rain, average precipitations ~3.000 mm/year, average temperature 2-4 deg C, elevation approximately 1.200 m (4.000 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. - Substratum: soil. - Comments: Finally! After four years again in bloom! This, probably the most rare and mysterious, mostly underground growing orchid of Slovenia and probably of Europe too, appears only every few years. The last time I saw these leaf and chlorophyll-less, 'parasitic' plants (achlorophyllous, mycoheterotrophic plant) in flowers at these two places was in 2008 and then in 2011. I have checked the places every year and have found nothing. Of cause, it is always possible that I overlooked them, but they also haven't been seen by others. This year (2015) we have an 'orchids year' in Posoje region. Several species appeared in large numbers on most uncommon places, some massively. I suspected that Epipogium aphyllum will behave similarly and it really did. Six plants have been found altogether. May be that extremely wet summer in 2014 favorably influenced growth of underground fungi (mostly Inocybe species), which are so important for growth of orchids (Ref.:1)? - Protected by Uredba o zavarovanih prosto iveih rastlinskih vrstah, poglavje A, Uradni list RS, t. 46/2004 (Regulation of protected wild plants, chapter A, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 46/2004), (2004). Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002) marked by 'V' representing a vulnerable species. - Ref.: (1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720653/ (2) B.Dolinar, Kukavievke v Sloveniji (Orchidaceae of Slovenia) (in Slovenian), Pipinova Knjiga, (2015), p85. (3) A.Martini et all., Mala Flora Slovenije, Tehnina Zaloba Slovenije (2007) (in Slovene), p 668.