Despite their reputation for being easy for aspiring plant parents to destroy, orchids can be found all over the planet. There are more than 25,000 known species of these plants, with more discovered every year. An international team of scientists have now found a new species of orchid in Madagascar with an impressive nectar spur and has a tie to Charles Darwin. Solenangis impraedicta is described in a study published March 11 in the journal Current Biology.
[Related: This new species of pink orchid looks like delicate glasswork.]
Madagascar is known for flowers with long floral tubes that are pollinated by long-tongued hawkmoths. The most famous orchid species on the island is Angraecum sesquipedale, which is also called Darwin’s orchid. The famed naturalist and orchid enthusiast had a theory that the flower was pollinated by a moth that was unknown at time. About 41 years after this prediction, scientists officially described the large hawkmoth proving Darwin correct.
The newly discovered species is appropriately named Solenangis impraedicta. In Latin, impraedicta translates to “unpredicted” and is a nod to Darwin’s eventually correct prediction that a specific moth is the orchid’s primary pollinator. The newly discovered orchid has a nectar spur that is almost 13 inches long, despite having petals that are less than one inch. These tube-like projections from a plant’s petals produce and retain nectar for pollinators like bees, butterflies, and moths. Solenangis impraedicta has the third longest spur scientists have ever recorded.
“The contrast between the little 2 centimeter (0.7 inches) flowers and the hyper-long nectar tube is mind-blowing,” study co-author and Coimbra University Botanic Garden botanist João Farminhão said in a statement.
The species with dainty white petals and a yellow-ish stem was first collected by…
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