Orchids: deceptive, ghostly & smelly

070717-orchid-wasp_big.jpg

There have been no less than three different stories about orchids in the news during the past week.

This hammer orchid, which was discovered in southwestern Australia only recently, evolved to resemble a female wasp, thus seducing males of the species into pollinating it.

bilde.jpg

These extremely rare ghost orchids were spotted growing high up in an old cyprus tree in Florida.

And finally, the Yosemite bog-orchid, which has just been rediscovered and reclassified as a species in its own right, emits an odour of sweaty feet to attract insects.

Isn't nature wonderful?

Tags

More like this

Ahhh, the ghost orchid. I just watched the movie Adaptation for the second time about a week ago.

I love the hammer orchid. It's the sort of thing you would end up with if Chuck Jones went into botany instead of Looney Tunes.

By Alex, FCD (not verified) on 20 Jul 2007 #permalink