Ophrys lutea
species of plant
Ophrys lutea, the yellow bee-orchid, is a species of orchid native to southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, the range extending from Portugal and Morocco to Syria.
Description of the flower
Broad asymmetric lateral sepals, dorsal sepal lowered.
Extended petals, yellow or with a blue-grey or brown spotted velvety macula. Pollinated by male Andrena bees. This species is notable among Ophrys for the fact that the pollinating bees sit on the labellum facing away from the pollinaria instead of facing towards them, and thus collect the pollinaria with their abdomen.
Subspecies
Numerous subspecific names have been proposed, but as of Sep 2023 the following are currently accepted:
Ophrys lutea subsp. aspea (Devillers-Tersch. & Devillers) Faurh. - Northern Tunisia to Northern Libya
Ophrys lutea subsp. galilaea (H.Fleischm.
The public source identifies “Ophrys lutea” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ophrys, lutea and species.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ophrys lutea”, the useful work is to connect “species of plant” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q922285. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2023.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Ophrys lutea” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.