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.
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?
- Log in to post comments
More like this
The emotions that other species summon up in the human brain are perplexing. A lion inspires awe and respect. It is the king of the jungle, a great name for a football team, a noble guardian of the entrance to the New York Public Library. A tapeworm, on the other hand, summons disgust mixed with a…
Sometimes a picture can tell you a lot about evolution. This particular picture has a story to tell about how two species--in this case a fly and an orchid--can influence each other's evolution. But the story it tells may not be the one you think.
Coevolution, as this process is now called, was one…
A common wasp on a foraging mission catches an enticing scent on the breeze. It's a set of chemicals given off by plants that are besieged by hungry insects and it means that there is food nearby for the wasp's grubs - caterpillars. The wasp tracks the smell to its source - a flower - and while it…
tags: new species, biology, botany, orchid, tiniest orchid, Orchidaceae, Platystele, Lou Jost
A close-up of the world's smallest orchid, at just over 2mm from petal tip to petal tip.
Image: Lou Jost.
The world's smallest orchid was discovered recently in a mountainous nature reserve in Ecuador…
Ahhh, the ghost orchid. I just watched the movie Adaptation for the second time about a week ago.
A fantastic film. I've seen it twice too.
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.