Botanists inferno for the discovery of the first nocturnal orchid in the world. It was baptized Bulbophyllum nocturnum and for 65 million years it is the first species of orchids - among the 25.000 present in the world - capable of flowering at night, such as the "Queen of the Night" cactus and the "Night blooming jasmine" ". But unlike these, the orchid dies in the dark at the crack of dawn.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Botanists inferno for the discovery of the first night orchid in the world. She was baptized Bulbophyllum nocturnal and for 65 million years it has been the first species of orchids - among the 25.000 present in the world - capable of flowering at night, such as the “Queen of the Night” cactus and the “Night blooming jasmine”. But unlike these, the orchid "in the dark" dies at the first light of dawn.
Discovery in the tropical forests of the island of New Britain, belonging to the Bismarck archipelago, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, this very particular orchid has become a case study for botanists around the world, who are wondering why it blooms at night and why it dies with the arrival of day and lasts just 12 hours.
And precisely this peculiarity has transformed it into an international case, which many experts in the sector have defined as "remarkable".
Like many orchids pollinated by lepidoptera and other nocturnal insects, Bulbophyllum nocturnum is also pollinated by midges, but - unlike other orchids that live several days - this is the only one that is born and dies within a single night as its diurnal “cousins” live much longer, admired, coveted and given away all over the world.
In addition, the nocturnal flower has a yellow-green color and a width of just two centimeters, with long thin filaments in the center. And unlike what we can imagine, it doesn't have a particularly intense scent. The team of scientists from the Royal Botanc Gardens who first introduced this orchid from the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society describe these flowers as "bizarre" due to the appendages of the petals often attached to the long delicate stems.
"This is another demonstration that surprising discoveries can still be made - said André Schuiteman of the team of scientists - But it is a race against time to find species like this that only occur in primordial. tropical forests. As we all know, these forests are rapidly disappearing. It is therefore essential to obtain funding for research in the field "
Verdiana Amorosi
