Talk:Ophrys bombyliflora

The first sentence ("The Bumblebee Orchid .... is a typical example.") makes no sense. An example of what? Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me could clarify. Gregory dj (talk) 19:24, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

I would say this has been copied verbatim from somewhere. Unfortunately I don't know enough about this flower or I would fix it.GBMorris (talk) 13:10, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

 Done This was fixed. Peter coxhead (talk) 13:52, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Species epithet

For what it's worth, the original description of this species doesn't explain where the name came from, though it seems clear from Brown's Origin of Scientific Words. The original description is at Link, J.H.F. (1799). H.A. Schrader (ed.). Journal für die Botanik. Vol. 2. Joh. Christ. Dieterich. p. 325. Nadiatalent (talk) 14:46, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, all the sources I know give the same etymology. What's odd is that even though the shape vaguely resembles a bumblebee, this species has the smallest flower of any of the genus, which is why the old text which claimed that it was pollinated by a bumblebee is rather funny – if the author had ever seen the plant they would have known that any bumblebee is likely to be significantly larger than the flower and would have a hard time engaging in pseudocopulation (or even landing on the flower). Peter coxhead (talk) 15:58, 28 March 2012 (UTC)