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While out shooting at a familiar place, I was thinking about a particular orchid. I don’t recall seeing it last year at the location where it was blooming a couple of years prior. Excitingly as I drove up, there they were.

There’s is something interesting about this orchid. While photographing this orchid I noticed something that made me very curious. Not knowing anything about this orchid, I wondered if this orchid was carnivorous. With just enough wi-fi access I was able to search and it wasn’t.

What is interesting about this orchid is its way to attach pollen to visiting insects. The top petal has yellow hairs, as some describe as bearded, that is appealing to insects. Once the insect lands, the labellum reacts and swings down to trap the insect.

The uniqueness of this orchid is the labellum (the part of the orchid that attracts insects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labellum_(botany) is on the top, on most orchids, it is on the bottom. Once it closes, the insect crawls out and pollen is attached to them and as it visits another orchid the pollination begins.

 

This orchid is native Florida orchid that grows in moist (bog) areas. Their flowering season is March, April and peaking

in May.

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Links:

http://flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/calopogon_tuberosus.htm

http://illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/grass_pink.html