Marvelous adaptations – the orchid

Image
Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS Photo Big Cypress National Preserve houses more than 30 orchid species, including the Ghost Orchid. Usually blooming in the peak of summer, the Sphinx Moth visits the orchid at night, using its long proboscis to collect nectar, which ends up spreading pollen to other Ghost Orchids. It was believed that only the Giant Sphinx Moth pollenated the Ghost Orchid until 2019, when researchers photographed a PawPaw Sphinx Moth feeding from a Ghost Orchid.

Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS Photo Big Cypress National Preserve houses more than 30 orchid species, including the Ghost Orchid. Usually blooming in the peak of summer, the Sphinx Moth visits the orchid at night, using its long proboscis to collect nectar, which ends up spreading pollen to other Ghost Orchids. It was believed that only the Giant Sphinx Moth pollenated the Ghost Orchid until 2019, when researchers photographed a PawPaw Sphinx Moth feeding from a Ghost Orchid.

Recently we explored the world’s largest plant family – the Asteraceae family, better known as the Daisy Family. It contains more than 32,000 species of plants. Our second largest plant family looks r…