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Sun Orchids, Successful and Immoral

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Sun Orchids, Successful and Immoral Sun Orchids, Above: Thelymitra macrophylla Successful and Left: Hybrid T. macrophylla x T. crinita. Immoral Photos: Dr Retha Meier, St Louis University Drs Peter Bernhardt and Retha Meier, St Louis University Missouri, USA Dozens of species of sun orchids (Thelymitra) call Western Australia home, flowering from winter through mid-spring. Some produce large English author and gardener, Vita of the Kings Park and Botanical and brilliantly colored flowers Sackville West, commented on how Gardens. They selected three of the while others have tiny, subdued often she observed natural hybrids most common species for study. blooms. Some have rich, rosewater- produced between columbines and The lemon orchid (T. antennifera) like scents while others appear granny bonnets (Aquilegia), “Their crosses with the scented sun orchid odorless to the human nose. One morals leave much to be desired,” (T. macrophyllum) and produces an feature shared in common is that she might have been writing about apricot-reddish offspring. When the sun orchid species frequently our sun orchids. Why are WA scented sun orchid “mates” with the hybridize with each other producing wildflowers so…promiscuous? blue lady (T. crinita) the hybrid keeps a generation of offspring intermediate In the Spring of 2009, National its blue petals but the hood in the in size, color patterns and fragrance. Geographic (America) funded Peter center of the flower is intermediate in According to State Botanist, Andrew Bernhardt and Retha Meier, from St. fine sculptures between the smooth- Brown, 80 kinds of sun orchid hybrid Louis University (Missouri) to come hooded scented orchid and the combinations are documented in to Perth and study the problem in the dramatically bumpy blue lady. Western Australia alone. When field and in the science laboratories 8 native bees are very confused by sun orchids, Top left: Thelymitra macrophylla plant on left; Thelymitra crinita plant on right Top: Hybrid T. macrophylla x T. antennifera Above: Pollinator of T. macrophylla with pollinia attached to abdomen. Left: Thelymitra crinita. Photos: Dr Retha Meier, St Louis University Flower color and sculptures aren’t specialist in the chemistry of flowers. it inherited some genes from the the only things that change in the His initial results suggest that scented scented parent but fails to make the hybrid offspring. Dr. Retha Meier sun orchids smell like old-fashioned molecules associated with blue ladies. collected odors from the blue lady, garden roses because they produce Drs. Bernhardt and Meier are back in scented sun and their hybrid thanks two molecules that are also found St. Louis and are still analyzing their to a living collection of all three in in rose scents. Blue ladies appear results but it looks like hybrids occur the KPBG glasshouse. She sent odorless because they make molecules between sun orchid species because… them to Dr. Robert Raguso at Cornell the human nose isn’t built to pick up. well, they can. Despite different sizes University (New York) as he is a The hybrid has a faint smell because and colors the flowers of different For People & Plants Summer 2010 Issue 68 9 sun orchid species fail to recognize Bernhardt said, “And we caught the “alien pollen” if hybridized by hand. bees to prove it. Both orchid species Pollen grains sprout on the receptive deposit their pollen wads on the same surface (stigma) of the female organ spot on the bee’s abdomen just above (pistil) and their sperm-filled tubes her stinger. If the bee visits a scented unite with the unfertilized seeds in orchid flower after she visits a blue the ovary within less than a week. lady we are probably on the way to Dr. Bernhardt says that, “So far the next odd generation of hybrids.” we can’t see an obvious difference “Go out and watch for yourself,” between pollen tube growth and the two American scientists urge. seed fertilization in blue lady pistils Nothing happens for hours and hours pollinated with blue lady pollen then everything happens at once, vs. blue lady pistils pollinated with especially on a warm, sunny, October scented orchid pollen and vice versa. day when the sky is clear of clouds. People aren’t pollinating sun orchids Remember, most sun orchids refuse in the field, are they? Well, you never to open their petals until nine or can be certain but Drs. Bernhardt ten AM and then they start closing and Meier insist that most hybrids by two or three in the afternoon occur naturally because native bees (banker’s hours?). Sun orchids enjoy are very confused by sun orchids, the most leisurely work schedules especially when they have big because hardworking bees are so colorful flowers. Sun orchids don’t dependable… and gullible. make nectar and they don’t offer edible pollen. The small black and larger banded native bees are usually “unwed mothers” gathering pollen and nectar to provision offspring protected in earthen burrows or dead wood. Dr. Bernhardt has identified pollen taken from the hind legs of bees caught on sun orchids. It’s quite a mixed bag of grains from trigger plants, pea blossoms, honey myrtles, native lilies and other species that offer edible rewards at the same time the pretty but stingy sun orchids flower. Sun orchids enjoy the Drs Bernhardt and Meier have witnessed the process. The bee lands most leisurely work on the sun orchid flower expecting schedules because a drink of nectar and some pollen to take home to the kids. She grabs the hardworking bees are hood and shakes it mistaking it for a so dependable… cluster of pollen-filled anthers. Too late, she’s wrapped her bum around and gullible. the hood and it touched a sticky gland called the rostellum. When she flies off in confusion (hopefully to visit another orchid) she doesn’t know she’s carrying a fat, white wad of pollen at the tip of her abdomen. “We never saw the process in the lemon orchid but we certainly saw it several times in the scented sun and the blue lady. It’s identical,” Dr. 10.
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