I would like to kick off this blog by sharing something that I found out only yesterday. It is an interesting story of imitation which I hope will set a feel for this blog.
The Spider Orchid
If you talk to someone who is a avid plant grower they will often use a frustrating amount of botanical names, even when talking to a curious lay-person, but in their defense, there are really no common names for the vast majority of plant species. A perfect example of the confusion which can caused by liberal use of common names is the orchid called the "Tiger orchid." The problem with calling this plant the tiger orchid is that there are dozens of plants which potentially fit this description. The same might apply to the "spider orchids"which might include the genius Ada, Brassia, and whatever
else has long whispy petals.It turns out, though, that we aren't the only ones who think the Brassias look like long legged orb-web spiders. Parasitic wasps, on the hunt for spiders, sometimes mistake the flowers for their prey. Normally, the wasps temporarily paralyze the spiders and lay their eggs on their abdomens. The larva then hatch and begin parasitizing the innards of the spider until, eventually, they suck the spider dry legs and all. The wasps sting the lip of the flowers (which is positioned to look just like a spiders abdomen) over and over to no effect, and in the struggle the wasp gets a packet of pollen called pollinia attached to its head or back. When and if it makes the same mistake again, pollen may be
deposited on a sticky surface of the sexual organs of the orchid, thereby pollinating it.
