Cycnodes Wine Delight
Aptly named in terms of their color, these spike on growths that look like palm leaves. Part of the Catacetum family, these plants have flowers whose pollinia are "spring-loaded." When a bee touches a special trigger, the pollen mass is forcefully ejected onto the bee's back, where it sticks by means of a clear, syrupy glue that keeps it in just the right position for fertilization of the next flower. If you touch the trigger, the pollen can be shot several feet. The flower on the left has had its pollinia ejected--you can see it laying on the lip. I love the scent of these--like ripe cherries or cherry-flavored candy, especially early in the day. The plants are deciduous; here, the bulbs stay bare from about late November to mid-March, at which point the next growth begins to poke up through the medium. (The white junk on the leaves is Daconil residue, by the way...)
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