The San Francisco Orchid Society celebrated Carnaval at this year's Pacific Orchid Exposition, February 26 - 28 at the Fort Mason Center. They used the Portuguese spelling of the word to bring to mind visions of Brazil and all the exuberance and flamboyance associated with it, which they believe are classic orchid qualities.
The San Francisco Chronicle writers also pointed out that orchids also celebrate the Carnaval tradition of masks and disguises-- and they give a few examples:
- The calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa), a California native, entices bumblebees to visit their pouchlike structures that look as if they ought to contain nectar. They don't, but the visitors emerge with pollen grains stuck to them and fly to the next flower.
- Some orchids copy both the shapes and colors of flowers that do offer nectar—like several Ecuadoran species, the Central American Epidendrum radicans and Disa pulchra in South Africa.
- Smells can also deceive. Another North American native, the stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea), has a scent like that of the honeydew produced by aphids. This attracts parasitic syrphid flies that normally lay their eggs on aphids, which become food for the fly larvae. The duped flies deposit their eggs on the orchid and fly off with their cargo of pollen.
- In another variation, it was recently discovered that Dendrobium sinense from China's Hainan Island produces a chemical also found in the alarm pheromone of honeybees. Hornets that prey on the bees pounce on dendrobium flowers, coming away dusted with pollen.
- The ultimate con artists among the orchids, though, imitate female insects in both appearance and smell. Although this reproductive deception is found in a few European, South American and South African orchids, it is rampant in Australia, where several orchid genera enlist the services of small wasps.
For more info on the expo, visit OrchidSanFrancisco.org.
