Orchid Blog

In our last post, we talked about the evolution of orchids. The same article from the North of England Orchid Society Website goes on to explain fascinating techniques orchids have evolved to attract pollinators.

One single pod can contain as many as 4 million seeds so it seems like reproduction would be assured, but conditions need to be just right, and to find that, the seeds need some help.

Our titular mention of bees was not merely metaphorical. There is an orchid known as the Bee Orchid that looks like a receptive female bee. Similarly using mimicry as a lure, the Oncidium Papillio have long stems which make the flowers dance like butterflies on a breeze.

Many orchid flowers provide an ideal landing platform for their pollinator to use, others use stealth--like the Slipper Orchid. Lured by the promise of a drink from its pouch, the insect finds the polished surface so slippery that it falls to the bottom, where the pollen is rubbed against it as it uses the escape hatch at the bottom.

Some orchids rely on crawling insects to pollinate them, and will produce long petals which trail down to the ground creating a pathway to their flowers. But some cater to specific insects—like the Angreacum Sesquipidales. Darwin wrote about this one in his Origin of the Species! He deduced from its long white star-like flowers which exude a heavy perfume at night, that the pollinator must be a moth with a long tongue. It was not until after Darwin’s death that the Predicta Moth was discovered, which possesses such a long tongue, and unfortunately the great man never had the pleasure of seeing his theory proven.

Of course, orchids do not rely on insects alone. Humming birds, small mammals, even bats, and even the wind all contribute to their reproductive success.