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| M4 J32 A thing of beauty |
This is not the usual sort of picture I would choose to start a post. However what you are looking at is Bee Orchid territory. It is also J32 on the M4. This might seem a little odd but the Bee Orchid likes a bit of action. Bee orchids cannot compete well with grass, as such it prefers recently disturbed poor ground to live on. The opposite of what grass likes. This coupled with the six years taken from seed to flower means finding and keeping conditions to thrive is tricky. Once it flowers it dies, though some plants do go on to flower again. As if this was not enough against it struggles to get pollinated by a
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| Two Bee Orchid Flowers |
bee. The flower mimic a bee feeding on a pink flower. The idea goes that the male bee comes in to mate with the flower and as it does it picks up pollen, this then gets carried to another bee orchid by the frustrated bee. However, it seems a certain species of solitary bee is the preferred pollinator and it does not often do the job. Luckily Bee Orchids are self fertile. Then their is the nature of the soil - it should be slightly alkaline. Having said all that I counted six plants in a small area, all flowering well. Enough of my banter - lets look at the orchid:
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| Bee Orchid Flower detail |
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