# Visit of the Montenach natural reserve: Brice and JeanLux



## JeanLux (Apr 16, 2011)

I got in contact with Brice, a young french man, studying biology in Paris, through Slippertalk some time ago  !!!!

We met again here on this thursday morning, because Brice was on holidays for a week, home in Lorraine, and we had agreed to visit some orchid related site! As Montenach is a village near the 3-border frontier France-Germany-Luxembourg, and has for the region a rather unique abundance of local orchids to be found on some of the slopes around, we decided to go there, even if it was still very early in the year to see a large part of the present species in bloom! 

So, most of the species were still not showing up at all, or were in very low foliage, or in early spikes, but we found a relatively huge number of plants belonging to one/ a few species! We could identify some, but the most visible, Orchis maculata?, had such variations in foliage and inflorescence, that, even with our orchid bucklets, we were not comfortable for identification  !

Maybe, some of you can give us more details!

here some pics:

(Liparis ovata) spiking, no it is Listera ovata, thanks Rob!:




an orchid purpurea ready to start its blooms' explosion!




one of the few purpureas already showing some bloom:




A view of the first in bloom:




And here some pics of what we found labelled as orchis maculata, but where we were not sure at all, if all of them were maculta, or variants of this species, oe simply diff. species, esp. because of the differences in compactness of blooms, colors of the stems, and, above all, the differences we met for the foliage: some green, others mottled!  !




the whole plant, for foliage:




green foliage!




bloom closer-up:




buds:




with primula:




Brice, shooting pics, shown in the next post:




Jean


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## JeanLux (Apr 16, 2011)

Here some pics by Brice:

still unknown :




orchis purpurea:




and some pics of maculata (?) forms/vars !?:
















and a pic of the luxbg. guy contemplating the blooms, but not able to clarify :





Thanks Brice for the tour  !!!! Jean


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## Inguna (Apr 16, 2011)

Jean, I don't know wild orchids good enough (shame for a biologist, isn't it?), but judging from pictures some of them really could be Orchis mascula (I didn't find O.maculata). Very variable species with many subspecies. Leaves can be spotted or not.

You had a very nice walk over there


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## Shiva (Apr 16, 2011)

Great tour Jean. Nice to see that spring is alive and well somewhere. I'll do a cyp trip in early june with a friend north of where I live.


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## JeanLux (Apr 16, 2011)

Inguna said:


> ....
> shame for a biologist, isn't it? *you're the judge  *),
> 
> but judging from pictures some of them really could be Orchis mascula (I didn't find O.maculata). Very variable species with many subspecies. Leaves can be spotted or not.
> ...



Ok, orchis mascula could be, at least some of them! 

=>orchis maculata (gefleckt, mottled) => Dactylorhiza maculata 

Thanks

Jean


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## brice (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks to you Jean it was a very interesting morning.
I think it's a nice thread.
I hope "slippertalkers" will help us in our identification.

Thanks again

Brice


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## Ernie (Apr 16, 2011)

Awesome! Looks like you had a great time.

The spotted foliage is fabulous!


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## Kevin (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks for the tour!


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## Yoyo_Jo (Apr 16, 2011)

Oh yes, marvellous tour and photos, guys!

I'm envious; our natives won't be seen for months yet. Too much snow cover...:sob:


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## Marc (Apr 16, 2011)

Wonderfull shots, I hope to visit the German Eifel this year to see orchids in the wild.


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## Rob Zuiderwijk (Apr 16, 2011)

Hi,

Your Liparis ovata should be Listera ovata.
The Orchis maculata is definitely Orchis mascula. It's to early for Dactylorhiza maculata to flower.
I've been in the Eifel (Germany) and in some areas in Luxembourg many times and in my experience D. maculata starts to flower early to mid June in these areas.

Any way, nice set of orchids. Thanks for sharing.

Rob Zuiderwijk


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## cnycharles (Apr 16, 2011)

nice pictures and nice trip! if you make it over here would be happy to set up an orchid-spotting tour


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## SlipperFan (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks for the tour, and the hope that spring *will* come!


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## NYEric (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanx for sharing. Its almost snowing here still!


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## JeanLux (Apr 17, 2011)

Rob Zuiderwijk said:


> Hi,
> 
> Your Liparis ovata should be* Listera ovata*.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the precisions about mascula Rob!!!!
The Liparis was my fault, it is of course Listera!!

Btw: have you been to the Aarnescht in Luxembourg?
=> http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16373&highlight=Aarnescht

This is a nice place, but Montenach has definitely much more orchids around!! Jean


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## JeanLux (Apr 17, 2011)

cnycharles said:


> nice pictures and nice trip!* if you make it over here would be happy to set up an orchid-spotting tou*r



Maybe, some day again; who knows!? Thanks Charles  !!! Jean


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## JeanLux (Apr 17, 2011)

Marc, Rob, do you have precise places to go to in the Eifel? Jean


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## s1214215 (Apr 17, 2011)

How jealous I am Jean, I wish I could be there to see this wonder

Brett


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## Clark (Apr 17, 2011)

Lovely place to be poking about with some Luxury.
Enjoyed your pics!


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## Marc (Apr 17, 2011)

JeanLux said:


> Marc, Rob, do you have precise places to go to in the Eifel? Jean



No I don't, nothing is set in stone yet. But the idea has been brought up to go to the Eifel this year with my brother and father where an acquaintance that is also a member of the VDOF ( German Orchidsociety ) will function as a guide.


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## biothanasis (May 18, 2011)

Great pictures of wild orchds...!!! Did you see any pollinators??? We also have them in bloom here at the moment (purpurea & mascula)...


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## JeanLux (May 19, 2011)

I made 2 more trips to the reserve these last days and here some more pics! Jean

orchis?:




Aceras anthropophorum:




Ophrys apifera(?):




Ophrys holosericea(?):




and here a very nice, large plant of Dactylorhiza maculata !(?):




Platanthera bifolia:




Anacamptis pyramidalis:




Orchis militaris:


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## Marc (May 19, 2011)

Nice pictures Jean


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## Yoyo_Jo (May 19, 2011)

The lips on the Ophrys are crazy!


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## NYEric (May 19, 2011)

Thanx for sharing.


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## SlipperFan (May 19, 2011)

Seems like every year, you show us lovely photos of terrestrials -- thanks, biothanasis!


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## JeanLux (May 20, 2011)

SlipperFan said:


> Seems like every year, you show us lovely photos of terrestrials -- thanks,* biothanasis*!





Jean


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## Drorchid (May 20, 2011)

Great Pictures Jean! 

Robert


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## KyushuCalanthe (May 20, 2011)

Very beautiful Jean. Thanks for posting these.


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## SlipperFan (May 20, 2011)

JeanLux said:


> Jean



Oops -- sorry, Jean. Apparently I wasn't paying attention. Kudos go to you!


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## Rob Zuiderwijk (May 21, 2011)

Hello Jean,

Very nice photos thanks for sharing.

I hope you don't mind but I would like to make some 'corrections' to the names:
- The first photos you call orchis? is a Dactylorhiza. Don't ask me which species exactly, sorry.
- Both Ophrys pictures show in my opinion Ophrys holosericea.
- Your Dactylorhiza maculata is indeed a D. maculata and a very fine specimen at that.
- And the Platanthera bifolia is actually a Platanthera chlorantha.

In three weeks I will be going to the Thuringer Wald area in Germany and hope to spot some orchids. Normally the beginning of june is fine to see some orchids, but this year everything in nature seems to be a week or two earlier than normal here in Western Europe. Olaf mentioned that as well concerning the Cyp. calceolus he spotted and your photos of the Dactylorhiza's show the same. I hope there will be some orchids in bloom for me to see...

All the best,

Rob Z.


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## JeanLux (May 22, 2011)

SlipperFan said:


> Oops -- sorry, Jean. Apparently I wasn't paying attention. Kudos go to you!



No problem Dot  Jean


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## JeanLux (May 22, 2011)

Rob Zuiderwijk said:


> Hello Jean,
> 
> Very nice photos thanks for sharing.
> 
> ...



Thanks a lot for the adjustments / rectifications of the names Rob!!!!

And good luck for your trip to Germany!!!

(I am just starting for my morning trip to the Aarnescht; hope to find some more ophrys there , esp. gnat, bee and bumblebee as we call them here ) Jean


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## biothanasis (May 22, 2011)

Great shots Jean!!!! :clap:


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