Types Of Orchids
How Deceptive Can an Orchid Be?
Orchid on Chinese Island Is Even Trickier Than Most
Charles Darwin would have loved it.
Scientists have discovered an orchid in China that takes the plant’s notorious trickery to a whole new level.
(Digital Vision/Getty Images)
Scientists have found that an orchid on the Chinese island of Hainan is even trickier than most orchids, admired by the great naturalist for their cleaver abilities to deceive pollinators.
Unlike many other orchids, the Dendrobium sinense doesn’t produce an aroma that will lure bees into its boudoir, probably because bees don’t serve as its pollinators.
The white orchid depends on the hornet Vespa bicolor to spread its pollen, but it has developed a self-serving technique to get the hornet to do it. The orchid releases a chemical that produces an aroma that is identical to the smell made by bees that are under attack.
The hornet normally captures bees to feed to its larvae, so when it smells the alarm pheromone it figures bees are inside the orchid, and they are in distress and thus would be easy victims. So the hornet plunges into the orchid like a cruise missile.
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