How are Phalaenopsis pollination in the Wild??

[shushu45]

Like the title says How are Phalaenopsis pollinated in the wild??
I can't find anything on Google.
Thank you for the information.

[orchidsarefun]

the toothpick fairy ?


Jokes aside, its anything that will carry the pollinia from bloom to bloom - in most cases a type of nectar-loving bee/moth that would have adapted to the task through evolution. I have heard of instances in "captivity" where a local insect has performed the task equally effectively.
Most flowers have either nectar or pollen that attract the respective pollinator. The pollen grains are sticky and attach to the pollinator and then are brushed off against the stigma on the next bloom visited.

[Dendy83]

Sometimes just a whispering wind will do the trick

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Generally speaking, I think everybody would agree that the natural pollinators of the different species of Phalaenopsis are insects of some sort.

I hesitate to say exactly what kind of insect(s) they could be.

Within the genus, there could actually be several different kinds of insect pollinators that could be responsible for transferring the pollinia, not just moths. Who's to say that a couple species are moth pollinated, while a few others are wasp or bee pollinated. Maybe others yet are fly pollinated, (there are tons of species of flies, not just horseflies, tse tse flies, the green bottle, the black bottle, and the blue bottle flies) - who knows.

I haven't really taken the time to check for this info. Could be a fun thing to do.

[Silje]

For me the more intriguing question is perhaps how on earth they actually manage to germinate any seeds at all since that seems more like a complicated science project than anything else. The percentage of phal seeds that actually manage to drop down on a suitable spot with the necessary fungus and the right conditions must be a very small percentage.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

the toothpick fairy ?

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I have heard of instances in "captivity" where a local insect has performed the task equally effectively.
Most flowers have either nectar or pollen that attract the respective pollinator. The pollen grains are sticky and attach to the pollinator and then are brushed off against the stigma on the next bloom visited.

Some of my bee pollinated orchids get pollinated by honeybees instead of their natural bee pollinators.

There are also the occasional Euglossine bee that make it up here in SoCal. They're kinda rare though. I really doubt that these are the bees responsible as I more often see honeybees around the Dendrobium kingianum or the Maxillaria picta.

The little black ants, (probably a Formica ant of some sort), that forage around here are probably responsible for pollinating my Dendrochilum tenellum a while back. So Dendrochilum spp. may actually be ant pollinated in the wild.

I'm not sure what pollinated my Isochilus linearis the last flowering season, it's a toss up between a hover fly or ants - not sure which.

So yeah, some of my orchids get pollinated by insects that are not native to where the orchid grows in the wild.

[theroc1217]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

the toothpick fairy ?


Jokes aside, its anything that will carry the pollinia from bloom to bloom - in most cases a type of nectar-loving bee/moth that would have adapted to the task through evolution. I have heard of instances in "captivity" where a local insect has performed the task equally effectively.
Most flowers have either nectar or pollen that attract the respective pollinator. The pollen grains are sticky and attach to the pollinator and then are brushed off against the stigma on the next bloom visited.

Orchids do not produce pollen or nectar.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by theroc1217

Orchids do not produce pollen or nectar.

They most certainly do produce pollen. And I believe some species do produce nectar.

[theroc1217]

They produce pollina, which are much different than pollen. They're groups of fertilizer cells, like pollen, except they are all stuck together. Most orchids have 2 or 4 of them, and that's it.

[Jayfar]

Originally Posted by theroc1217

They produce pollina, which are much different than pollen. They're groups of fertilizer cells, like pollen, except they are all stuck together. Most orchids have 2 or 4 of them, and that's it.

Right, sort of. The pollinia are essentially little bundles of pollen grains. It's still called pollen in all the scientific papers I can find.