Peter Efimov: Project Update: May 2008

This herbarium specimen of rare orchid Ophrys insectifera from new locality deposited in Helsinki University was previously unknown for russian scientists.

During early spring 2008 a database needed for the mapping of Orchids of north-west Russia was almost finally compiled. Data from literature and from Russian herbarium collections had given more than 90% of entries to it. A business trip to Finland in March 2008 was the last step in this work. Before II World War, part of Russia was belonging to Finland, which resulted in numerous materials deposited in the herbarium of Helsinki University, but often neglected in scientific research. As the result, a new locality of very rare orchid Ophrys insectifera from east Leningrad Region was discovered; the nearest locality of this plant in north-west Russia is situated more than 300 km far from it.

The preparations for the field season, which will start in the middle of May, were made. At the meeting of Saint-Petersburg Orchid Society in April, a lection on Orchids native to north-west Russia was held. Visitors were informed about their diversity, reasons of extinction and conservation importance. Recently, this information was presented on the website of our Orchid society (http://www.spolo.ru/orchids_nwr_eng.html)