| Phalaenopsis pulcherrima | |
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| Flower of Phalaenopsis pulcherrima | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Genus: | Phalaenopsis |
| Species: | P. pulcherrima |
| Binomial name | |
| Phalaenopsis pulcherrima | |
| Varieties [1] | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Phalaenopsis pulcherrima is a species of orchid found from Hainan Island to western Malesia. [1]
Pollination through bees, specifically Amegilla nigritar , Amegilla zonata , and Nomia punctulata has been reported. [2] [3] This species employs a deceptive pollination strategy. The orchid does not provide rewards to pollinators. It benefits from blooming in the same period as rewarding species. Amegilla is the most important pollinator, but other diurnal insects, such as four species of bees, two species of butterflies, one species of moth and two other unidentified insects, have also been observed to interact with the flowers. [4]
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Ophrys apifera, known in Europe as the bee orchid, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the family Orchidaceae. It serves as an example of sexually deceptive pollination and floral mimicry, as well as of a highly selective and highly evolved plant–pollinator relationship.
A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains.
Vanda, abbreviated in the horticultural trade as V., is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are about 87 species, and the genus is commonly cultivated for the marketplace. This genus and its allies are considered to be among the most specifically adapted of all orchids within the Orchidaceae. The genus is highly prized in horticulture for its showy, fragrant, long-lasting, and intensely colorful flowers. Vanda species are widespread across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea, with a few species extending into Queensland and some of the islands of the western Pacific.
The genus Ophrys is a large group of orchids from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, Caucasus, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves, when self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work.
A pollinium is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchids and many species of milkweeds (Asclepiadoideae). Usage of the term differs: in some orchids two masses of pollen are well attached to one another, but in other orchids there are two halves each of which is sometimes referred to as a pollinium.
Phalaenopsis, also known as moth orchids, is a genus of about seventy species of plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are monopodial epiphytes or lithophytes with long, coarse roots, short, leafy stems and long-lasting, flat flowers arranged in a flowering stem that often branches near the end. Orchids in this genus are native to India, Taiwan, China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Australia with the majority in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Buzz pollination or sonication is a technique used by some bees, such as solitary bees to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers. The anthers of buzz-pollinated plant species are typically tubular, with an opening at only one end, and the pollen inside is smooth-grained and firmly attached. With self-fertile plants such as tomatoes, wind may be sufficient to shake loose the pollen through pores in the anther and accomplish pollination. Visits by bees may also shake loose some pollen, but more efficient pollination of those plants is accomplished by a few insect species who specialize in sonication or buzz pollination.
Ophrys insectifera, the fly orchid, is a species of orchid and the type species of the genus Ophrys. It is remarkable as an example of the use of sexually deceptive pollination and floral mimicry, as well as a highly selective and highly evolved plant–pollinator relationship.
Phalaenopsis stobartiana, also known as 滇西蝴蝶兰 in Chinese, is a species of epiphytic plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is endemic to Hainan, China. The specific epithet stobartiana refers to Willliam Culley Stobart. The Stobart family were the principal landowners and colliery owners in the 19th century in England.
Phalaenopsis amabilis, commonly known as the moon orchid, moth orchid, or mariposa orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It is widely cultivated as a decorative houseplant. It is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with long, thick roots, between two and eight thick, fleshy leaves with their bases hiding the stem and nearly flat, white, long-lasting flowers on a branching flowering stem with up to ten flowers on each branch.
Amegilla is a large genus of bees in the tribe Anthophorini. The genus occurs all around the world, but very few live above 45° North. Amegilla are associated with arid and subarid biomes, matorrals, steppes, sub-deserts and deserts.
Acampe rigida is a species of orchid native to the forests of tropical southern Asia where it grows on trees and rocks at altitudes of up to 1,800 m (6,000 ft).
Phalaenopsis taenialis, also known as 小尖囊蝴蝶兰 in Chinese, is a species of epiphytic orchid occurring from the eastern Himalaya to China (Yunnan). The specific epithet taenialis is derived from the long, flattened roots, which resemble tapeworms. The specific epithet taenialis, from the Latin taenia, means ribbon or band.
Schoenorchis, commonly known as flea orchids, or 匙唇兰属 in Chinese, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are small epiphytes with thin roots, thin leafy stems with leaves in two ranks and tiny fragrant, almost tube-shaped flowers with a prominently spurred labellum. There are about twenty five species found from tropical and subtropical Asia to the Western Pacific.
Dendrobium christyanum is a species of orchid (Orchidaceae) endemic to the Chinese island of Hainan.
Pollination traps or trap-flowers are plant flower structures that aid the trapping of insects, mainly flies, so as to enhance their effectiveness in pollination. The structures of pollination traps can include deep tubular corollas with downward pointing hairs, slippery surfaces, adhesive liquid, attractants, flower closing and other mechanisms.
The pollination of orchids is a complex chapter in the biology of this family of plants that are distinguished by the complexity of their flowers and by intricate ecological interactions with their pollinator agents. It has captured the attention of numerous scientists over time, including Charles Darwin, father of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin published in 1862 the first observations of the fundamental role of insects in orchid pollination, in his book The Fertilization of Orchids. Darwin stated that the varied stratagems orchids use to attract their pollinators transcend the imagination of any human being.
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