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| Giant orchid (Barlia robertiana) |
The giant orchid is a rare endangered
orchid that grows in a handful of localities including the garigue behind the Għadira
Nature Reserve. It is a large winter-flowering species, which was discovered in
Malta about twenty years ago.
The first flowers appear in December and
usually disappear by February. Although it is a large orchid, local and
visiting botanists had overlooked it probably because these tended to carry out
fieldwork later in the season when more plants can be found and thereby missing
these winter-flowering plants. At this time other orchids also start to flower
including the brown orchid, which is much smaller and easily missed unless one
knows what to look for.
The giant orchid is known in Maltese as orkida
kbira. It is found growing in garigue, maquis, scrub, open woodland and
roadsides throughout the Mediterranean.
The few specimens found in Malta grow in
open rocky areas. The specimens growing at Għadira are now threatened by a new
road, which is being proposed to cut through the area. If built this road would
destroy a large area of garigue, a rich habitat which has decreased because of
lack of appreciation of its value and importance.
Garigue supports a large
percentage of the flora and fauna of the Maltese islands including many orchids
and other rare species of plants. It is in garigue that the thyme, which
provides the nectar for the Maltese honey, grows.
The new road should not be built, as it
would result the destruction of another rich garigue area and the loss of more
precious habitat. We have lost far too much countryside and what little is left
should be protected and conserved.
This article was published in The Times on 07.01.09.
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