Re: Insect trapping Orchids

Finn N. Rasmussen (FINNR@bot.ku.dk)
Fri, 12 Jan 1996 00:54:05 GMT+0100

The liquid in the "bath-tub" of Coryanthes flowers does not
intoxicate the pollinator - on the contrary, it has a sobering effect
on the poor bee that falls into it after being intoxicated by
substances it gets by scraping on the base of the "column" (that is
the fused stamen and style in an orchid). When the bee leaves the
labellum it passes the stigma and anther of the flower. However, it
will soon feel a strong demand for more of the Coryanthes-drug .....

Species of the Australian terrestrial orchid genus Pterostylis
(Greenhod-Orchid) actually trap pollinating insects by a trap-door
mechanism.

A good (although old) source of information about the many strange
pollination phenomena in Orchidaceae is van der Pijl and Dodson 1966:
Orchid flowers, their pollination and evolution, University of Miami
Press.

Finn R

Finn N. Rasmussen
Botanical Laboratory, University of Copenhagen
Gothersgade 140, DK-1123 Copenhagen K., Denmark
Phone: +45 35 32 21 55 Fax: +45 33 13 91 04
Web homepage: http://www.bot.ku.dk
Email: FinnR@bot.ku.dk