Triphora trianthophora and pollinator

[prem]

Photographed in Citrus County, FL. T. trianthophora is a very small orchid which is hard to find, period, because of its small size. It's even harder to catch in flower, owing to the fact that all plants in a colony will flower at the same time, with the flowers lasting but a day. A new wave of buds will mature within a few weeks, to bloom again on the one designated day.

Here's an entire plant shot...the imaged plant is around 3 inches tall:



Here's a close-up of the flower, which is roughly 1 cm across:



Here's another flower close-up:



And, while I was shooting this, a small Stylogaster biannulata fly landed on the flower in search of nectar:



Finally, here's a crop of just the center of the above image at full resolution:



Enjoy!
---Prem
Florida's Native and Naturalized Orchids

[isurus79]

Very cool! Its always good to see orchid in situ pictures.

[cb977]

Prem...that is so SWEET!

Citrus County is one county north of me...

I have to get out more often!

[JennS]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing that one. First time I got to see a wild orchid being pollinated! THANKS!!!

[gmdiaz]

You sure caught the glittery, sugary quality of that brilliant little orchid! I was just thinking the flower looked open-for-business when I saw the next photo showing the pollination!

Very cool photos and very special orchid. I love these outdoor shots.

[pheli]

Thanks for sharing these pretty images.
The flower itself is lovely, too.

[prem]

Well, I made a return to this site with a friend the next weekend...all the plants had buds...none in bloom, but they may have been about to open within the next day or two...so, my chances were probably 1 in 8 at least in seeing plants in bloom.

---Prem

[dgenovese1]

Prem,

Well done photo journalism! I absolutely love it!!!