an orchid is. undeniably so. you’ll agree once you see the pics i have collected. been reading The Orchid Thief and there are fascinating facts about orchids. here’s some :

• the name “orchid” comes from the Greek root orkhis, meaning “testicle”
• considered the most highly evolved flowering plants on earth (it was said that perhaps orchids evolved in soil naturally irradiated by meteor and the radiation mutated them into thousands of amazing forms)
• orchid gets fertilized because it is smarter than the bug with the following methods :
  • pseudoantagonism : the orchid imitates the shape of something that a pollinating insect likes to kill, insect sees its “enemy” and attacks it(the orchid) and in the process of this pointless fight the insect gets dusted with orchid pollen and spreads the pollen when it repeats the mistake
  • pseudocopulation : the orchid looks like the pollinating insects’ mate, so the bug tries to mate with the orchid
  • Lady’s slipper orchids have a special hinged lip that traps bees and forces them to pass through sticky threads of pollen as they struggle to escape through the back of the plant
  • some orchid secretes nectar that attracts small insects, as the insects lick the nectar they are slowly lured into a narrowed tube inside the orchid until their heads are directly beneath the crest of the flower’s rostellum [an extension of the stigma, the part of a flower on which pollen germinates]. when the insects raise their heads the crest shoots out little darts of pollen that are instantly and firmly cemented to the insects’ eyeballs but then fall off the moment the insects put their heads inside another orchid plant.
• orchids are one of the few things in the world that can live forever. many people who collect orchids designate an orchid heir in their wills, because they know the plants will outlast them
• no one knows whether orchids evolved to complement insects or whether the orchids evolved first, or whether somehow these two life forms evolved simultaneously, which might explain how two totally different living things came to depend on each other. the harmony between an orchid and its pollinator is so perfect that it is kind of eerie.

below are (many many) pictures of orchids, enjoy the eye candy.

p/s: if you took liking to any of these orchid pictures, just check the name of the image file and google out more info

published on Jan 16 05 at 1:52 pm under category : curiosities.