Found out my favorite orchid species is actually a total parasite in the wild

I was reading a PDF from the Royal Botanic Gardens last night and learned that over 200 orchid species get their nutrients by stealing from soil fungi, not photosynthesis. Has anyone else run into a plant fact that completely flipped what you thought you knew?

2 comments

2 Comments

clairer793d ago

But isn't being a parasite just a really smart survival strategy? Orchids in the wild don't have it easy, and if stealing from fungi works for them, why should we judge?

nathan_hill603d agoTop Commenter

I see where you're coming from, but I gotta respectfully disagree. In my experience, calling parasitism a 'smart survival strategy' kind of misses the bigger picture. Sure, some orchids pull it off, but they pay a price - most can't survive without that specific fungi, so if the fungi dies off, the orchid dies too. Compare that to a regular green orchid that can make its own food and adapt to new conditions, and suddenly the parasite looks a lot more fragile than clever. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think we might be giving too much credit to a strategy that's basically a dead end if things change even a little bit.