Orchid fossil dates blooms at 80 million years

Orchids made front-page news today with the discovery by Harvard University Biologists of a 80-million year old sample of orchid pollen (Meliorchis caribea) on a fossilized bee.

"Their analysis, published this week (Aug. 29) in the journal Nature, indicates orchids arose some 76 to 84 million years ago, much longer ago than many scientists had estimated. The extinct bee they studied, preserved in amber with a mass of orchid pollen on its back, represents some of the only direct evidence of pollination in the fossil record."

(Harvard University Gazette Online)

Coelogyne flaccida 3

Coelogyne flaccida 3
Originally uploaded by meadow moon

Coelogyne flaccida 2

P1010045
Originally uploaded by meadow moon

Coelogyne flaccida 1

P1010050
Originally uploaded by meadow moon

Coelogyne flaccida in bloom!

The three images above are of one of the orchids that I imported as part of a club order from Floralia in Brazil. I hadn't really been paying too much attention to it and then suddenly I realized it had a flower spike on it!

It's been living out front in our entrance way with the cymbidiums and my other Coelogyne cristata clipping which has yet to bloom. The cymbidiums seem to do well out there. It's pretty bright in the summer and breezy with the screen door. The plants stayed out there all of last winter, though not the flaccida that is in bloom as I've only had it for a few months.

The smell of this flower is very interesting. People who have smelled it have described it as "just bad" and "cheap perfume". I'm not sure if I am just getting used to the smell, or if it's growing on me, but I'm starting to think it's not that bad!