They are beautiful and famous. We can easily find them on our plateau. Why not, during these short and gray days, do ourselves a favor, and let us go discover the orchids.
There are about forty-nine different types of orchids in our department, which places it among the interesting departments. This can be explained by its southern position, by its proximity to the Massif Central, as well as by the presence of a lime containing soil.

All our orchids have several flowers, which are grouped in different ways on a sole stem. It are these flowers which amaze us, fill us with wonder, and even fascinate us. After all, they are made for that, attracting, attracting the insects which will gather their pollen, thereby pollinating them. Although our orchid flowers cannot rival those of their tropical cousins by way of their size, colour or fantastic forms, nevertheless they remain surprising. As an example, a group of orchids, the Ophrys, have flowers imitating a female pollen-gathering insect, not only by its looks, but also by its smell.
The male is going to try to mate with this fake female, of course without avail, but he certainly will take along to another orchid of the same species, the pollen which attached themselves to him. Again he will start his mating efforts, but this time leaving behind the pollen on this flower, thus ensuring its pollination. However, these orchids also use other lures : they can resemble flowers rich in nectar, although they themselves have none; so we observe on one of the highly differentiated petals of the corolla, the labella, which serves as the landing point, different enticing colours or protuberances. It's crowded during rush hour. Another method is that the flower is build like a hole in which an insect can hide itself when it rains or when the night falls. But not all orchids are such manipulators. There also exists orchids which offer perfume and nectar. This perfume can be smelled from a distance of ten metres or more away. One smells the orchid even before seeing it, even surprising us.

Orchids show other aspects which make them particular. A mushroom is necessary for the germination of the extremely small orchid seeds, which do not contain a food reserve, and their whole life they will remain more or less closely associated with this mushroom.
Orchids fear the concurrence of other plants, reason why they will sooner grow on poor soil where their roots form bulbs or rhizomes, thus permitting them to stock different types of food stuff, in order to face difficult periods.
These lines only give a very small glimpse of what makes these plants so original. Let us now focus on their situation. Like so many species belonging to the wild life, everywhere the orchids are threatened by many of the human activities adding up to changes of the natural habitats. For instance the termination of the stock breeding of sheep permits the gradual return of the forest ; thus eliminating the orchids with a high requirement of light. The excess of fertilizer brought by running water favours the appearance of many plants that will choke the orchids by changing their surroundings; and there is also the drying out of humid zones. Being well-known, these flowers are representative: their disappearance signals the eradication of habitats by a human activity, thus favouring the presence of other species, either animal or vegetal, just as fragile and remarkable but less well-known.
That is why in so many regions conservation actions are carried out. The plateau of Bouloc, its hill sides, but also some parts of the more humid valleys, host nearly half of the number of species found in our department. Somewhat earlier we have also seen that the orchids live together with mushrooms, this means that they need a stable soil, a soil in which an intense microbial life is present, which is proof of the high quality of a natural habitat

Considering these plants as an indicator of the diversity of landscape and the quality of the soil, the number of species found (at the moment) show the natural importance of the plateau of Bouloc and its closer surroundings.
The orchids live with us happily and in big numbers. Our well-being here, might well be linked to their presence. What would their violent disappearance do to us ?