[Pollinator] Scent of blue orchids

[Peter Bernhardt]

Dear Colleagues:

 A couple of years ago we sent you a paper we wrote on the pollination of
blue sun orchids (Thelymitra species) by bees in Western Australia.  Here
is a copy of the second paper on this study.

Remember, the orchids had an fragrance but they made no nectar or edible
pollen for their bees.  We suspected these flowers mimicked the flowers of
pollen and/or nectar producing species of some other blue flowering species
in the Australian spring.  Here's a comparison of the odors made by the
orchids and the odors made by the giant blue flag (Orthrosanthus laxus;
Iridaceae) blooming at the same site at the same time.  This blue flag
offers edible, granular pollen but no nectar.  Retha took ALL the photos
and I think her work is excellent.  She was also in charge of the devices
that "sucked out" the scent from the flowers (see Figure 3) provided by the
Raguso lab at Cornell.  As you will see, the dominant molecule in the odor
of the blue flag, Thelymitra macrophylla and its hybrid with T. crinita has
been identified in a wide variety of insect-pollinated flowers all over the
world.

Peter Bernhardt
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