Orchid flower. Close-up of a flower of the South American orchid, Dracula lafleuri. At lower centre is a cup-shaped flower lip (labellum, pink). Seen

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Orchid flower. Close-up of a flower of the South American orchid, Dracula lafleuri. At lower centre is a cup-shaped flower lip (labellum, pink). Seen above the labellum is a stalked male anther (yellow) containing pollen-bearing pollinia. Dracula have large downwardly hanging flowers resembling fungi and are pollinated by fungus gnats. This new species of orchid was discovered in January 1993 in the Los Cedros Biological Reserve, Ecuador. Ecuador has more than 2,400 species of orchids, and the Los Cedros Reserve is part of the most biologically diverse forest in the world.

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Size: 4961px × 3644px
Photo credit: © DR MORLEY READ/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: america, american, angiosperm, angiosperms, biological, botany, cedros, diversity, dracula, ecuador, lafleuri, los, nature, orchid, orchids, plant, south, type