Real or Fake Monkey King? Sorry, I am actually a little orchid~

Auditing expert: Yang Yanhui, Senior Garden Engineer, Beijing Haidian Water Ecological Construction Development Co., Ltd.

When it comes to orchids, the first thing that comes to mind is the plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum in traditional Chinese culture. Yuan Mei, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, once praised orchids for their "elegance and elegance, and their aloofness and fearlessness of the cold." As the "gentleman among flowers," orchids symbolize elegance and purity, and we can find orchids in many ancient paintings. However, even such seemingly cool orchids have some exceptions.

Image source: Internet

For example, "Monkey Orchid"!

Image source: orchideenfreunde

Image source: Internet

How did the monkey orchid get its “monkey face”?

Monkey Orchid, also known as Monkey Orchid, is a small epiphytic orchid of the genus Orchidaceae , about 40 cm tall. Just like its name, this orchid has a "monkey face" that looks a bit funny. So how did it get its "monkey face"?

Image source: Voice of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Before answering this question, let's first learn about orchids. The different types of orchids we encounter in daily life actually belong to the Orchidaceae family, which is the second largest family of seed plants in the world. The Orchidaceae family has about 700 genera and 20,000 species . As the saying goes, "a big forest has all kinds of birds", the appearance of orchids is also very strange.

Generally speaking, orchids are mainly composed of pedicels, receptacles, calyxes, petals, stamens, stigmas, etc. It is worth noting that orchids have a relatively unique part, that is, their lip . The lip is a specialized structure of orchids, which often twists to the bottom of the flower and becomes a foothold for insects, which is conducive to the pollination of orchids.

Image source: Internet

Understanding the basic structure of orchids will help explain what this "monkey face" is all about. Careful observers may be able to guess that this "monkey mouth" is the lip of the orchid! The monkey nose is actually the gynostemma, and the petals on both sides of the "nose" are darker in the middle, which looks like two small eyes from a distance.

Image source: Voice of Chinese Academy of Sciences

The monkey's facial features are there, and the monkey face is actually the calyx of an orchid. The calyx of an orchid has different colors and patterns, and some calyxes are covered with hair-like structures, like a hairy monkey.

Image source: Internet

Monkey orchid tastes ______?

That’s right, the smell of monkey orchids actually smells like mushrooms ! As mentioned earlier, monkey orchids are plants of the genus Microgypsum, but Microgypsum plants have no nectar and no floral scent, making it difficult to attract pollinators that like floral scents. So how can they attract pollinators?

The environment where the plants of the genus Odonata live is mostly damp and dark, and there are many flies that like to eat fungi or carrion, so they will emit a mushroom-like smell to attract flies for pollination. This phenomenon is professionally called deceptive pollination . In addition to simulating the smell of mushrooms, Odonata plants will also simulate the size and shape of mushrooms to deceive pollinators.

Deceptive pollination

This kind of deceptive pollination is actually not uncommon in the orchid family. For example, the bee orchid looks like a bee, and its fragrance is a complex hydrocarbon substance that can realistically imitate the sex pheromones of female bees to attract male bees to achieve the purpose of pollination.

Image source: Internet

The huge labellum of the Tibetan Cyperus can simulate a drone's nest and trick the drones into entering its labellum. By the time the drones finally break free, the pollen has already successfully stained their bodies.

Image source: Lizhi.com

After all this talk, do you know more about monkey orchids? The world of orchids is really strange and there are many orchids with strange appearances that are worth our observation and understanding. Let us explore this wonderful nature together!