bucket orchid

bucket orchid, (genus Coryanthes), genus of about 42 species of epiphytic orchids (family Orchidaceae), noted for their complex pollination mechanism. Bucket orchids are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and Trinidad and are sometimes sold as horticultural novelties for their flowers.

The plants feature an unusual coevolutionary pollination mechanism involving certain orchid bee species. The one to five flowers are borne on a pendulous stem that arises from the base of the tall pseudobulbs (bulblike stems). An aromatic fluid secreted by specialized glands collects in the column of the flower, which has a spoutlike opening just below the pollinia (pollen packets). A male orchid bee, attracted by the strong odour, falls into the flower “bucket,” where it collects some of the fluid in its leg pouches. To escape, the bee must crawl through the narrow spout, and the pollinia stick to the insect as it leaves the flower. The bee then uses the fluid in its own courtship with a female bee and deposits the pollinia on the stigma of the next bucket orchid that it enters.