Inside The New York Botanical Garden
Posted in Photography on March 2 2016, by Matt Newman
Darwin’s orchid is one of the most reputable flowers you’ll find in the Haupt Conservatory during The Orchid Show, if only for its incredible importance to its namesake’s evolutionary predictions.
Darwin’s orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) in the Haupt Conservatory – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in Photography on March 14 2014, by Matt Newman
Keep an eye out for Darwin’s famed star orchid when you visit Orchid Evenings this weekend. You might even be able to make out the feature that made this bloom such an evolutionary puzzle for decades on end.
Darwin’s Star Orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) in the Conservatory – Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen
Posted in The Orchid Show on April 8 2013, by Christian Primeau
Christian Primeau is the NYBG‘s Manager of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Orchids are wildly fascinating. Whether you enjoy them on a purely aesthetic level or delve more deeply into the evolution and specialization of certain species, you cannot help but draw a deep sense of satisfaction from these plants. For natural pollinators of orchids however, the “orchid experience” can prove the best of times or the worst of times, depending on which flower attracts their attention. To that end, this is a tale of two orchids.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the legendary Darwin’s Orchid, Angraecum sesquipedale. This lovely Madagascar native’s large, star-shaped flowers are annual jaw-droppers in the NYBG’s Orchid Show, often drawing throngs of eager fans and photographers. As the story goes, Charles Darwin studied the narrow, 10-15” long, nectar-filled spur that hangs from the rear of each flower, surmising that whichever creature fed on the nectar (and subsequently pollinated the orchid) must posses a proboscis of truly epic proportion. His hypothesis was largely ignored or ridiculed, leaving the mystery of the Angraecum pollinator to remain unsolved for decades. Unfortunately, Darwin would not survive to see his theory substantiated.
Posted in Around the Garden, Photography on March 7 2013, by Matt Newman
Darwin’s star orchid is a rare treat for visitors to this year’s Orchid Show. Like the vanilla orchid, it’s seldom we get to flaunt this beauty in full bloom.
Angraecum sesquipedale — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen