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How did an orchid 'shape' a prediction?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

December 17, 2003

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The star-of-Bethlehem or comet orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale Thouars) is a native of Madagascar. The orchid comes into bloom starting in December. The comet orchid is phalenophilus [fal en of' e lus], "moth-loving", the waxy white flowers are scentless during the day and both highly visible and

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Joseph Hooker (1817-1911), Charles Lyell (1797-1875) and Charles Robert Darwin (1809-82) Buy this Giclee Print at AllPosters.com

fragrant after dark to attract the night-flyers.

Each flower has a remarkable spur or nectary up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) long, but only the tip of the spur contains nectar. In 1862, Charles Darwin wrote to Joseph Hooker, musing on what could suck the nectar from such a flower. Darwin predicted an insect with an extremely long proboscis would be discovered and that it would be the major pollinator of the orchid.

In 1856, a sphinx moth was discovered in southeastern Africa. It was named Macrosila morgani, Morgan's sphinx moth. But no one associated the moth on the continent of Africa with the orchid on Madagascar.

Charles Darwin died in 1882. Twenty-one years after his death, a subspecies of Morgan's sphinx moth was discovered on the island. And it fit Darwin's prediction having a proboscis long enough to reach into the tip of the orchid's nectary. In 1903, the moth's genus was reclassified to Xanthopan; the 'predicted' Madagascan moth was named Xanthopan morgani subspecies praedicta.

The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew has a drawing of the unique comet orchid. To view the drawing, click on the link:

http://www.kew.org/exhibitions/johnday/pages/jds_16_039.html

(Compiled from: Orchids, their Botany and Culture, Alex D. Hawkes, Harper and Row Publishers, 1961; A History of the Orchid, Merle A. Reinikka, Timber Press, 1995; and the Darwin Correspondence Online Database, University of Cambridge.)

killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~

Suggested Reading:

Why were there no earthworms in Canada? Renfield's Garden - March 27, 2002
What is the wine palm? What's in a Name? - October 4, 2002
How did the shape of a flower cause the death of women? Weird Plants - January 10, 2002
When wasn't a mandrake a mandrake? Weird Plants - December 18, 2003
What Aztec orchid was a love potion? Herbal Folklore - December 31, 2001
How does this blue-blood turn green? Renfield's Garden - August 21, 2002

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