More Mormodes

Mormodes oberlanderiana ABG# 05-1060 flowering at the Fuqua Orchid Center

A bee's eye view of the twisted column of Mormodes oberlanderiana. The shiny surface of the stigma is visible on the underside of the column.

From behind the flower you can see that the lip is twisted also.  The angle of  the lip and column creates  a characteristic placement of the pollinarium on the bee's thorax. When the bee enters a female flower the pollinia are in the correct position to be placed on the stigma.

The last of our four Mormodes species flowering this week is Mormodes oberlanderiana. I have to admit that I completely missed the subtle but gorgeous coloration of these flowers until I saw them in the morning light through my camera lens. What a beauty. Of the four species this one has, in my opinion, the most captivating fragrance.

Mormodes oberlanderiana is native to Colombia and northwest Venezuela where it grows as an epiphyte.