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New Zealand grower shares how orchids reproduce

Many of the blooms on display at the National Orchid Expo in Palmerston North (New Zealand) are likely to have been bred from test-tube "babies".

The pollen donor and surrogate flower will have been hand-picked by growers, the ripened seed pod delivered to a laboratory, germinated and nurtured in a dish of nutrients.

But as organising committee chairman Allan Rae explains, many of the orchid colours and shapes and features that fascinate and delight flower-lovers have evolved naturally for one important function.

That is to get pollinated, using all sorts of sexual trickery and deception to lure the pollinator.

Read more at Stuff (Janine Rankin)

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