Botanists
Discover 'Remarkable' Night-flowering Orchid
A night-flowering orchid, the first of
its kind known to science, has been described by a team of botanists. Experts
say the "remarkable" species is the only orchid known to consistently
flower at night, but why it has adopted this behaviour remains a mystery.
The plant was discovered by a Dutch
researcher during an expedition to
The specimen was discovered by
co-author Ed de Vogel during a field trip in a region of lowland rainforest on
the Pacific island. Its unique flowering behaviour only came to light after the
specimen was taken back to the
The specimen has been identified as
belonging to the Bulbophyllum genus, which, with about 2,000 species, is the
largest group in the orchid family. While there are a number of orchids that do
attract night-time pollinators, B. nocturnum is the first known species that
exclusively flowers at night.
Mr Schuiteman said it still remained
a mystery why the plant had developed such behaviour. "We think related
species are pollinated by tiny flies that think they are visiting fungi,"
he explained. "The flowers mimic fungi, that's what the details of the
flowers look like they do. "The flies are looking for somewhere to lay
eggs, and it is most probably [a species] that forages at night." He
added: "The orchid probably has a smell, not detectable by humans, to
attract insects from a distance - and when they are nearby, the shape and
physical aspects of the flower probably play a role too.
However, time may be against them as
the location in western
He said the logging activity was a
double-edged sword because
He called for areas to be left
untouched: "It is the government that gives permits to log a particular
area, so we should be asking them to protect areas and not issue permits for
everything."
22 November 2011 Last updated at
00:15 GMT
By Mark Kinver and Victoria Gill
Science reporters, BBC News and Nature