Exploring the Crimean Pensinsula for orchids, species like Comperia comperiana, Steveniella satyrioides or Orchis punctulata are especially noteworthy. Albiflora forms, though, are quite rare in this Ukrainian region. Vladimir Isikov of the Nikita Botanical Garden told me that he has seen only three species with white-flowered forms: Orchis simia, Neotinea tridentata and Anacamptis morio ssp. caucasica (which he referred to as Orchis picta). Obviously there are no orchid species on the Crimean Peninsula heading to a direction which favours white flowering.
But near тылобое (Tylovoye) we found an edge of a forest with a group of 26 Orchis simia under a pine and 5 albiflora plants among them. In this small population there was obviously some kind of reproduction of the white-flowered plants.
Neotinea tridentata has a marked variability, as it is also noted by H. Kretzschar, W. Eccarius and H. Dietrich in their book „Die Orchideengattungen Anacamptis, Orchis, Neotinea“ (Buergel 2007, p. 206/207). On the Crimean Peninsula the dominant colour of flowers is light purple. I’ve found 3 white flowered plants, which led me to a rough estimate of 2 albiflora plants per 1000 Neotinea tridentata.
Among the Anacamptis morio, Orchis mascula, Orchis purpurea or Anacamptis pyramidalis seen on our 10-day-trip there have been no white-flowered plants. But in a forest near гончарное (Goncharnoye) there was an albino form of Epipactis helleborine.
Beyond the orchid flora I noticed white flowers of Polygala major, the endemic Onosma taurica and Papaver spec. Interesting was also a Polygonatum odoratum with half white leaves.
