| Hammer Orchid | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant Info | ||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| species | ||||||||||||
| Drakaea confluens Drakaea elastica |
Drakaea is an endangered genus of orchid that is native to Australia. Orchids in this genus are commonly called "Hammer Orchids". The common name refers to the shape of the orchid, and the way it moves, resembling a hammer. The genus was named after Miss Drake, a botanical artist who drew orchids and other plants to assist taxonomists in England in the 1800s. Members of the Drakaea genus are characterized by an insectival labellum that is attached to a narrow, hinged stem, which holds it aloft. The stem can only hinge backwards, where the broadly winged column carries the pollina and stigma.
Hammer orchids have an interesting method of pollination, as they need the Thynnid wasp. Female wasps are flightless, and wait on top of stems for the males, who will fly in and carry them off. Then they will mate in mid-flight. Hammer orchids mimic the female wasps, their labellum being similar in color and in structure to the female wasp's abdomen. The orchids also produce pheromones very similar to those that the female wasp produces. The male having been attracted by the pheromones and the shape, tries to fly away with the labellum, which makes the stem holding it move backwards. This backward movement brings the male wasp's thorax in contact with the sticky pollen packet. For the Hammer orchid to be successfully pollinated, it requires that the male wasp is fooled by another individual orchid, where it goes through the same procedure. This time the pollen is deposited in the stigma, and that plant has been pollnated. This form of symbiosis is not mutualistic, the wasp getting nothing in return for having pollinated the hammer orchid.
There are at least five species in this genus.