Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Bewitched, Part II

So, without further ado, here are the flowers of the shadow witch. These are flowers that I have wanted to see in person ever since seeing them in Luer's landmark book, The Native Orchids of Florida. First, we have the entire inflorescence. The flowers are about 1/2 inch (approx. 1 cm) across, ranging from whitish-cream to mint-green in color. They have a faint, citrusy fragrance.

and here is a flower close-up. Each individual flower is bent backwards to form a small landing platform. The lip faces inward toward the spike, with the petals and sepals forming a flat surface beneath the column with its curious tooth overlapping the small pollinia. All of the floral parts have a crystalline, sparkling texture. The ovaries and remainder of the flowering stem (as well as the backs of the flowers) are covered in fine hairs.


So, there you have a close-up view of these bewitching flowers.

Enjoy!

---Prem

2 comments:

Florida Nature Photography said...

Once again - Nice work Prem! I remember the first time I saw these, and had no idea they were orchids until I looked them up in a field guide later - long before I ever heard of Brown's book :-) Fantastic close-ups!

Unknown said...

Orchid lovers are like birders in that it's beauty lies in the details, often overlooked by a casual observer.

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