Bucket orchid

Description:

One of the most complex flowers of the orchid family is seen in the genus Coryanthes. The parts of the Coryanthes flower are, the epichile, faucet gland or pleurida, mesochile, hypochile, pedicel, lateral sepals, dorsal sepal, petals, entrance to the stigmatic cavity, and the pouch like bucket or labellum. The flower bud of Coryanthes is quite interesting and has the appearance of the man in the moon.

Habitat:

Wet and humid forest low land forest up to 1200 feet

Notes:

Coryanthes are pollinated by Male bees of the genera Euglossa, Eulaema and Euplusia are the sole pollenators of the Coryanthes. They are attracted to the plant by the flower's heavy odor. The bee lands on the hypochile and searches for the fragrance compounds. When the bee goes below the hood it looses it's footing on the hard waxy mesochile surface and falls into the bucket which is filled with a mucilaginous liquid which the plant secretes from the pleuridia, or faucet gland, which is at the base of the column. The bees only escape is to crawl through the tunnel formed by the epichile of the lip and the column. The bee first topuches the stigma and then the gluey viscidium which attaches to the back of the bee. The most incredible part of this process is that the same bee has to go and fall into a flower again to achieve pollination.