The Pollinator's Guide to Orchids

Moths (like me!) prefer orchids that have long spurs with sweet nectar which we can suck up with our equally long tongue, known as a proboscis. Moths love the nightlife, and so we're attracted to white or green orchids that are brightly luminous at night and have a sweet smell.

This orchid is  Angraecum didieri , or Didier's Angraecum.

Butterflies also like orchids with spurs and sweet nectar they can suck up with their long tongues. Butterflies dart about during the day, looking for orchids which are bright pink, red, or yellow, but don't need a sweet scent to find their preferred flowers.

This orchid is  Epidendrum stamfordianum , or Stamford's Epidendrum.

Bees always get the spotlight as pollinators (we moths are also important!), but they are essential to orchids. All sorts of bees are attracted to orchids to collect scent or food - or sometimes even to attack because they think the orchid looks like another threatening bee! Some of the flashiest are orchid bees (or Euglossid bees) which are metallic greens, golds, and blues. Typically, orchids that attract bees are fragrant and very colorful, but not red, since bees cannot see red. Bee-pollinated orchids also typically have a sweet or spicy scent.

This orchid is  Lycaste macrobulbo , or the Large Bulbed Lycaste.

Wasps have a bad reputation as "mean bees," but many of them are also important pollinators! Wasps prefer orchids that have a strong scent, easily accessible nectar, and dull colors - although these flowers are often vivid under UV light, which wasps can see. Some orchids pollinated by male wasps have evolved to look and smell like a female wasp, to trick their pollinator into landing on them. The orchid here attracts wasps with its nectar - but not any other pollinators! Wasp-pollinated orchids are not visited by other insects, likely because they don't want to run into the wasps.

This orchid is  Dendrobium alexandrae , or Alexandra's Dendrobium.

Orchids don't contain the powdery pollen inside most flowers. The male and female flower parts are fused into a "column" with a few waxy pollen bundles called pollinia inside.

This orchid is  Phalaenopsis pulcherrima , or the Beautiful Phalaenopsis.

In some orchid flowers, the lip has evolved into a "pouch" that traps insects and forces them to exit the flower in a certain way, collecting pollinia as they go. The bottom sepals of this type of flower are also fused together.

This orchid is  Paphiopedilum insigne , or the Splendid Paphiopedilum.

Orchid flowers come in all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes, but you can always find the sepals, petals, lip, and column - sometimes with a little difficulty!

This orchid is  Brassavola subulifolia 'H & R' , a Heart-Lipped Brassavola selection.

...as lithophytes (plants that grow on rock)...

This is a Bulbophyllum parviflorum, or the Small Flowered Bublophyllum.