Carrion orchid

Timotheüs van der Niet, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, recently published an article in the Annals of Botany on the orchid Satyrium pumilum, a small rather rare orchid that occurs from Namaqualand to Riversdale. Like many orchids, it does not produce pollen or nectar and lures insects to it by means of smell - in this case the smell of rotting meat, which proves irristible to carrion flies.
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Photo: Dennis Hansen.