Monday, April 21, 2008

Bisexual orchid??


While human had seek help for trying to conceive through 'test tube' babies..these so called 'seeds' of orchids have been placed into bottle with some chemical compounds with the required nutrients and then corked up. Funny they do not need further monitoring except to let it grow slowly..do not even need to open up the bottle and let sunlight or air in.It is only after they have spouted leaves long enough, then the bottle will have to be broken carefully and transfered to bigger pots.This is something I have not seen before!!
This trip to the Orchid farm in Chiangmai,Chiangrai was an eye opener for me.
The interesting part is that there are both 'male and female' flowers in the same species of orchid flowers!! It is until recently that I came to understand that there are 2 species of flowers...the male flowers and the female flowers.
Estimated by some specialists to include up to 35,000 species, which often have highly specialized flowers used to attract insects and facilitate pollination. The stamens have so strangely modified itself to produce pollen in clusters. which are attached to insects when crawling into the flower. The flower shapes are modified to force insects to pass by the pollen, which is "glued" to the insect. Some orchids are even more highly specialized, with flower shapes that mimic the shape of insects to attract them to 'mate' with the flowers, a few even have scents that mimic insect pheromones.

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