Orchids are pollinated and propagated in much the same way as many other flowering plants. The process requires some know-how and a few basic supplies. Open the petals of an orchid flower gently and locate the white shaft-like petal column at its center.
Lift the column gently and look for the little hatch or anther cap on the underside of the upper end. Use a toothpick or cotton swab to push the hatch aside, so the pollen inside is reachable. Dip one end of the toothpick or cotton swab iton the sticky solution on the stigma. The stigma is located on the underside of the column just below the anther cap. Slide the toothpick or cotton swab into the open hatch and swipe it across the pollen capsules until one or more are dislodged. The pollen should adhere to the sticky solution and you should be able to remove it from the column.
This may take a few tries. They can live indefinitely without blooming or doing much of anything at all.
In the wild, most orchids grow high in the tree canopy. They grow along tree branches, rooting in moss and debris that has settled on the limb. Simple division is one way that orchids multiply. The orchid can outgrow the branch and break off in the wind, landing on a nearby branch. This simple means of multiplying is not typical for plants that heavily depend on blooming and pollinating for their propagation. The larvae hatch in the spring feeding on a variety of woody plants.
Moth coloring often resembles the bark of the foodplant it prefers. This is most likely a protective adaptation. There was a time you could find this bumblebee across most of North America from Quebec to Florida, westward to South Dakota then south into the central Mountains of Mexico.
Within the past decade, though, its numbers have collapsed and it is strongly suspected it was infected with a virus when European bumblebees were imported into North America to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes.
In spring the overwintering queens of our American bumblebee pollinate many spring wildflowers. Of course, they are collecting nectar and pollen to feed to their first brood of workers. Once the workers mature the queen stays home and her daughters pollinate the wildflowers and bushes of summer and autumn. Like most bumblebees in Canada and America the colony is annual.
The queen dies in the autumn cold weeks after she produced new queens in late summer or early fall. We all know that female mosquitos bite and drink blood to provision the next generation of eggs but where do they get the energy to pester us?
Some consume the sugars in flower nectar to fuel their attacks on us. Here in North America, at least 15 species in the genus Aedes are known to drink the nectar of small-flowered, greenish orchids placed in the genus Platanthera. A paper suggesting that they also pollinated the orchid appeared in Cross-pollination occurs when she visits a second flower on a second plant.
Of the 15 species, Aedes communis is the best studied as it is so common on summer tundras and bogs where these little orchids may thrive.
The great American authority on native orchids, Carlyle Luer, described how they hummed in swarms around the blunt leaf orchid carrying so many bright yellow balls of pollen the insects looked like they were wearing their own head lamps. Therefore, while this mosquito may be a bit…annoying The black swallowtail comes into our gardens to lay eggs on carrots, dill, parsley and other members of the celery family.
If you want to lure these butterflies into your garden you should provide them with birthwort vines available from native plant nurseries and seed companies. These woody vines are rather primitive and related to magnolias but native, American birthworts are pretty easy to grow if you have some dappled shade and add humus to your soil. This chunky, furry bee is smaller than a honeybee but very important to flower pollination in the mid-west.
It visits a wide range of wildflowers native to our woodlands and prairies. The Cypripedium reginae does not give the bee any reward and traps it temporarily in its sac. Anthophora abrupta are potential pollinators of many important crops including: cranberry, tomato, blackberry, asparagus, persimmon, clover and raspberry.
There are about 25 species in the genus Eulaema through the New World tropics. They are big, hairy and velvety insects unlike their smaller, shiny, metallic cousins, the blue and gold and violet colored orchid bees Euglossa species. Two to four pregnant females of Eulaema meriana share the same nest but do not really cooperate with each other.
They come to collect the spicy perfumes of the flower. A male E. Therefore, if a male of E. Male bees are territorial and have a specific perch where they will wait for an attracted female. This webpage was made possible with the help and advice of many people. We especially want to thank the following people for their much appreciated input!
His research examines how data from herbarium specimens can be used in assessing the conservation status of plant species. She is an authority on pollination ecology and plant breeding systems who specializes in rare and endangered plant species. Emily Underwood is a scientific illustrator living and working in central California. Her work is inspired by the landscapes that surround her and everything that lives and grows on them. Of the very few orchid seeds that are able to find ideal conditions to germinate, few survive to maturity.
It generally takes most wild orchids five to seven years to reach blooming size. Mortality rates are high during the fragile early stages of orchid growth. Early efforts to artificially raise orchids from seed in the 19th century were unsuccessful until growers discovered that seed sowed at the base of the mother plant would sometimes germinate. This was possible because the parents were still naturally infected with the necessary mycorrhizal fungi. However, even this technique resulted in relatively few plants, so the commercial orchid industry continued to depend on vast quantities of wild-collected plants to satisfy the constant demand of wealthy collectors.
In , Louis Knudson discovered that nearly percent germination could be achieved by starting seeds in flasks on sterile media fortified with nutrients to feed the young plants. Some years later the process of mericloning was developed, allowing the mass production and marketing of individual cultivars. Thanks to these achievements, combined with humanity's insatiable desire to create artificial hybrids—presently more than , have been registered—today orchids are produced by the millions.
They are now among the most widely grown and popular flowering pot plants in the world. For a comprehensive discussion of orchid ecology, consult the monumental work The Orchids: Natural History and Classification , , by Robert L.
Despite the astonishing diversity found in the thousands of wild species and man-made hybrids, orchid flowers show an unmistakable family resemblance. Orchid flowers are generally bilaterally symmetrical—only a single imaginary line can be drawn through a flower to create a mirror image. A typical orchid flower has three sepals the outer segments that protect the bud before the flower opens , alternating with three petals.
The petals and sepals may be similar or not, showy or inconspicuous. The middle petal, which is always opposite the column, is usually quite different from the others. Called the lip or labellum, it comes in a variety of shapes, depending on the species, and can be wavy or fringed or covered with hairs or other structures.
The labellum often serves as a landing pad and attractant for insect pollinators. The most distinctive aspect of orchid floral anatomy is the column, the single reproductive structure formed by the fusion of the male stamens and female style, which are separated in the vast majority of plant families.
Most orchids have a single fertile anther flower structure where pollen is produced located at the tip of the column. In most orchids, pollen is not loose and granular when ripe but rather is packed into a waxy mass called a pollinium. Pollinia usually occur in pairs, but in some species they are found in groups of up to eight. The pollinia typically share a single small sticky tab called a viscidium, which adheres to the pollinator when contact is made.
To discourage self-pollination and promote cross-pollination, the pollinia typically are separated from the stigma female part of the flower that receives the pollen by a flap of tissue called the rostellum. The rostellum also aids in the transfer of the pollinia from the pollinator to the stigma. There are exceptions to the typical orchid flower configuration, shown above. For example, slipper orchids such as paphiopedilums, considered a primitive branch of the orchid family, have a pouch- or slipper-shaped labellum, below left.
They also have two fertile anthers instead of a single anther, below right. A third anther has evolved into a fleshy plate, called a staminode, which sits in front of the other two and assists in luring and guiding pollinators across the anthers and stigma.
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