As amazing as are these structural oddities,...

Here are more orchid-growing tips (continued from my last post)...

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As amazing as are these structural oddities, they are no more so than the means by which the pollen masses adapt themselves to a position suited to their proper delivery.

Rutherford Platt in This Green World has reported that the Orchis, fertilized by bees, attaches the pollen masses to the bee in erect horns, which, however, wilt down in a manner that permits them to hit exactly the waiting cavity of the next flower.

If they remained erect they would not fit.

Calopogon carries its stigma on the bottom part of the petal, and when the bee lands with a pollen load he is neatly flip-flopped into a somersault that brings the pollen on his back to proper contact.

In Cypripedium acaule the bee is attracted to the entrance by white lines, pushes through the softly drawn drapes of the pouch of the 'lady's slipper,' and sips the nectar, but when he seeks to retreat, the drapes are closed tight behind him.

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I'll post more orchid care tips soon!

- Sara