Sunday, December 27, 2009
Upside-down orchid....or is it ?
A common orchid from Malaysia, Borneo, PNG, Thailand and some say Singapore.
Most orchid flowers are oriented differently, having a lip at the lowest part of the flower which serves as a landing pad for the pollinator (see for example a Cirrhopetalum) . So when someone told me flowers of Bulbophyllum macranthum are upside-down, with lips situated at the top (oscillating through a notch between the two sepals), I could not but agree. But as I later learned, a standard orchid flower is resupinate - which means that the flowers twist 180 degree about the flower stalk during growth so in effect, most orchid flowers are upside-down.
Which also means, a non-resupinate orchid flower like this, is, as a matter of fact, right-side up.
Seems rather trivial, but it means that they have a rather different pollinating mechanism....
Blog Archive
- May (44)
- April (33)
- March (48)
- February (97)
- January (118)
- December (99)
- November (278)
- October (281)
- September (235)
- August (362)
- July (474)
- June (320)
- May (300)
- April (567)
- March (573)
- February (376)
- January (352)
- December (174)
- November (119)
- October (125)
- September (125)
- August (115)
- July (148)
- June (106)
- May (101)
- April (88)
- March (102)
- February (61)
- January (58)
- December (66)
- November (97)
- October (60)
- September (76)
- August (50)
- July (64)
- June (71)
- May (85)
- April (82)
- March (114)
- February (111)
- January (112)
- December (79)
- November (74)
- October (66)
- September (80)
- August (69)
- July (69)
- June (46)
- May (32)
- April (30)
- March (32)
- February (28)
- January (31)
- December (31)
- November (28)
- October (27)
- September (18)