spider orchid

noun

1. any of several European orchids of the genus Ophrys, esp O. sphegodes, having a flower with yellow, green, or pink sepals and a broad brown velvety lip

Example Sentences

Take for example Ophrys sphegodes, the early spider orchid, which has flowers resembling a spider's abdomen, but also reproduces the sex pheromones of certain mining bees.

From Salon

The early spider orchid relies on deception to reproduce.

From New York Times

This research throws a big monkey wrench in the Australian government’s recovery plan for the grand spider orchid.

From Scientific American

Those preliminary results are not unprecedented, either: the early spider orchid is already known to flower several days earlier each year than it did at the turn of the 20th Century.

From BBC

The early spider orchid was found on a grass roof at Swanage sewage treatment works by ecologists from Wessex Water after staff changed their usual mowing process.

From BBC