Celebrating Diversity at Pacific Orchid Expo 2023
“I’ve never seen an orchid like that!” “How strange!” “That can’t be a real flower!” These exclamations were all overheard at the recent Pacific Orchid Expo. Fittingly, this year’s show theme was “Celebrating Diversity.” With tens of thousand of varied species, and hundreds of thousands of varied hybrids, the orchid family is surely a diversity champion.
All the photos in this post clearly demonstrate that range of differences, but especially the first two. In the first picture, there’s a rare, blooming Ghost Orchid, Dendrophylax lindenii. Its elegant white blossom was displayed inside a tall glass jar, and therefore tough to photograph, but it’s still the stuff of orchid dreams, as in The Orchid Thief. The second picture features a bizarre Dracula species, Dracula chestertonii ‘Quetzalcoatl’, which defies comparison to any plant sold in a supermarket or home improvement store. Its weird lip mimics a fungus to trick small insects into pollinating it. It certainly exemplifies orchid diversity. Check back soon for more from San Francisco’s big show.
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