What Smell??

[lornaheath]

Can anyone tell me why these beautiful flowering plants we know and love as Orchids have little or No Smell?

I now some do, but generally they have the most beautiful flowers and no perfume to go with them? WHY?

Lorna
x x x

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's complicated. Natural selection played a role in it.

Another role is the orchid's pollinators.

Some pollinators are not only attracted to the flowers visually, but they are also attracted to the same flower via smells.

For example, flowers that are brightly colored and have an odor to them are usually fly pollinated. In this case, you gotta remember that not all flies are carrion or dung eaters. Some flies are fruit flies or hover flies, so orchids with these pollinators are the ones that are nicely fragrant and have bright colors. The smell is usually produced by glands at the base of their spurs.

Another example, is that flowers with long spurs, are white, and are night fragrant are usually moth pollinated. Some moths are nocturnal. If I'm not mistaken, they also see in the ultraviolet light spectrum, (could be wrong, idk), so the white, even in the dark, sticks out amongst everything else. The long spurs are to accommodate the moth's long proboscis. At the base of the spur, there are glands that produce the smell, and/or a type of nectar.

As a side note - not all orchids produce nectar for their pollinators. Some do, some do not.

[lornaheath]

Oh my Good Grief, You know more words than I've ever heard. You are very clever Young Man. I am always well impressed when you start to advise me. Well Impressed Sir!

You need to start a Lecture Tour on Orchids with the amount of knowledge that you have. Wow! You'd earn a fortune.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Thank you.

I'm not sure if I'd make "a fortune" per se, but when I feel a bit more qualified, maybe I will think about it more seriously.

Thank you.

[tucker85]

In nature, fragrant orchids are more apt to survive and reproduce because they attract pollinators. In an orchid breeder's nursery, the beauty of the flower is most important and fragrance is a secondary consideration. Orchid breeders are trying to attract buyers, not pollinators. There are some nicely fragrant orchids but is usually by accident and not intent.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by tucker85

In nature, fragrant orchids are more apt to survive and reproduce because they attract pollinators. In an orchid breeder's nursery, the beauty of the flower is most important and fragrance is a secondary consideration. Orchid breeders are trying to attract buyers, not pollinators. There are some nicely fragrant orchids but is usually by accident and not intent.

True.

It's kinda a "chicken or the egg" deal in this context now. But it's not wrong. It's just something I didn't take into consideration with nursery bred orchids.

[katrina]

You're more likely to find fragrance w/species as well as many primary hybrids but it's usually lost when you get into the more complex hybrids.

[samarak]

If you're interested in finding some of the many that do have great fragrance, there are a couple of threads on that subject in other forums. Here's a link to one of them:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...fragrance.html

Steve

[lornaheath]

There's a couple of threads here! !

Mister Steve, there's 7 pages of the bloomin things. Average of 10 to a page makes 70. There's 73 likes alone on there.

It would take me the rest of the night to wade through that little lot and that's only if I could understand all them there posh names.

Thank you Boss.

Lorna
x x x

[butterfly_muse]

Or, you could be this guy: Return of the Titan | United States Botanic Garden

And smell like dead elephant to attract carrion beetles and flies to carry your pollen. XD

Thank goodness orchids don't smell like this!!

P.S. - I'm trying to figure out whether I'm brave enough to go smell this thing when it opens..O_O!