Italian name: Serapide lingua, Lingua di gallina
Synonyms Serapias lingua:Serapias columnae (Rchb. fil ) Lojacono, Serapias excavata, Serapias oxyglottis, Serapias todari, Serapias elongata
Description
The name of the genus Serapias was probably given in honour of the Egyptian god of fertility, Serapis, from the ancient Greek sàrapias/sarapidos. The specific name, from the Latin lingua=tongue, refers to the shape of the epichile. The plant is 10-30 cm tall, has a slender stem and has two or more pedunculated tubers. The ovate-lanceolate leaf-like bracts are as long as the flowers or slightly longer, pink-purple in colour, and the basal leaves are lanceolate and keeled, while the upper ones envelop the scape. The inflorescence is rather loose, usually with 3-6 flowers; the sepals and petals are enclosed to form an elongated, grey-purple helmet with purple veins. The labellum is 15-29 mm long, varying in colour from yellowish to pink to red, and has a shiny, blackish-purple basal callus called a “coffee bean”. The hypochile is cordate, with darker lateral lobes, mostly contained within the cap. The epichile is ovate-lanceolate, pointing forwards and downwards, sparsely hairy, tongue-shaped.
Where to find it and varieties
The chorological type is stenomediterranean and the flowering period is from March to June; it is present in many regions and is widespread especially along the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian coasts, in the south and on the islands. It is absent in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino Alto Adige, Lombardy and Val d’Aosta. It prefers to grow in uncultivated meadows and scrubland, often found on clayey soils but rarely above 1000 m altitude.
The Serapias olbia Verg. variety differs in that it has slightly longer bracts and sepals, a basal callus on the labellum that is furrowed or split into two very close parallel calluses, and a blackish-red labellum, usually very reflexed towards the stem.
Unlike other species belonging to the Serapias genus, S. lingua seems to be able to attract certain hymenoptera, which then pollinate it, thanks both to the odorous substances it emits and to the callus at the base of the labellum, which is a unique and distinctive feature of the species within this genus.
