
The odd life of an underground orchid - Mz
http://earthsky.org/earth/the-odd-life-of-an-underground-orchid
======
kijin
If this plant never emerges above the ground (even the flower remains
underground unless disturbed by curious botanists), how does it spread its
seeds? The seeds would be deposited right on top of the parent.

The article briefly mentions rats eating the seeds, so maybe this plant relies
on surface disturbance (animals, heavy rain, etc.) to carry its seeds away?

Or perhaps this plant has no need to spread far and wide, since it depends so
heavily on a specific combination of fungus and shrub. It would be futile to
spread the seeds outside of this narrow habitable zone.

~~~
Malcx
From:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizanthella_gardneri](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizanthella_gardneri)

>>Rhizanthella gardneri reproduces vegetatively by which it can produce three
daughter plants. They also undergo sexual reproduction, and underground
insects such as termites and gnats are known to pollinate the flowers

------
iamcurious
"Because of its rarity, the locations of the orchids are a secret."

I always have mixed feelings when reading things like that. Specially for such
a beautiful flower! Let's hope they find a way to reproduce them in the lab
and end with the secrecy.

~~~
ars
The flower is underground, you wouldn't see it anyway.

~~~
iamcurious
Without disturbing them, yes. Having the location publicly known would just
serve as an invitation for amateurs to disturb it. On the other hand, some
amateur might find a way of finding other specimens with less effort.

I understand their point of view and, at least temporally, it might be the
best course of action. I just wish, as a matter of principle, that there was
no need for secrecy.

~~~
Alex3917
Its generally pretty easy to find plants just by using Google maps. You can't
see the plants themselves, but you can make an educated guess about which
sites will have the appropriate terrain and microclimate. It is enough work
though to deter people who are only casually interested.

If there really are only a handful left then that probably doesn't work in
this case, but for most things that are merely uncommon it's a pretty good
technique.

~~~
Mz
You seem to presume that most folks know a great deal about a great many
things that they likely do not know. I would have no idea how to even begin
doing such a thing and I was one of the top three students of my graduating
high school class, got my AA cum laude (etc, etc).

~~~
kaybe
Huh. I could probably do that.. Begin with reading books about meteorology,
starting with general introductions and branching into microclimate, then
geology and geography, again introductions first and then more detailed works
about the climate zone you're interested in. You should be able to get books
about smaller regions, continents is easy, many countries can be done. And of
course, you'll need information about the plants you're looking for - what
kinds of water, light, nutrients is best and what is permissable, deduce from
this the possible places and the plants that should go with it. Could also
help to look at pests the plant is susceptible to.

If you need more details, you can get into the recent literature which might
not have made it into a book yet or which is not part of a big-enough field.
You should be able to understand most by now; refer back to the books if there
are issues.

Any university library should be able to offer these; if you buy it'll easily
be a few hundred since one book can cost over 150€. So there.

Edit: Once you get enough into the details, it's also a good idea to start
asking people. (And the way your comment's parent put it, there should be a
community around who has very detailed knowledge about these things.
Befriending them would help. Or try to shoot an email to any professor, most
of them are very open to reasonable enquieries (which are not demands to prove
your perpetuum mobile idea please.. some people..) But then again, how far do
you want to go?)

~~~
ionwake
Good reply

------
Alex3917
We have mycoheteroytrophs in the U.S. also, e.g. monotropa uniflora (Indian
pipes). They grow in a symbiotic relationship with Russula mushrooms.

~~~
whyenot
Some other good examples are snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea)[1] and phantom
orchid (Cephalanthera austiniae)[2]. It's also probably worth mentioning that
this is an example of symbiosis in the borad sense. It's not a mutualistic
relationship where both the fungus and the orchid benefit. The parasitic plant
is using the fungus essential as a straw to suck sugars and nutrients from the
roots of other plants. The fungus does not appear to gain in any way from the
relationship.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcodes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcodes)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalanthera_austiniae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalanthera_austiniae)

~~~
proksoup
Like our use of cows. Maybe tangential benefits, from being used by something
that is itself successful?

------
kbenson
"We needed all the help we could get since it often took hours of searching
under shrubs on hands and knees to find just one underground orchid!"

It's probably just my unrealistic view of what Australia is like, but that
doesn't seem very enjoyable, safe, or even sane.

~~~
kleer001
>my unrealistic view of what Australia is like, but that doesn't seem very
enjoyable, safe, or even sane.

That's Australia and Australians for ya, mate. And especially young Australian
Field Scientists. They're a hardy and fun loving people in a terrible and
unforgiving land. Source? Personal experience and historical documents.

------
tehchromic
I love that it's "there are only 50 of these rare orchids that live their
whole lives underground left!", next to photos of one being unearthed and
exposed to the air. Also "their existence is a top secret, so all you rabid
adventurer collector types, don't go reading this article and come looking for
them now" \- hilar!

------
pvaldes
If you like this, you will love the "worm of Dune like" _Hydnora africana_. A
sort of vegetal graboid.

------
djulius
As a Mefi reader an HNer, I'm always disappointed when I see non-hacking Mefi
links posted on HN.

I don't know why, but I suspect people looking for karma, but I would like to
be proven the contrary.

~~~
briandear
What is Mefi?

~~~
djulius
metafilter.com

