''Coryanthes'', commonly known as bucket orchids, is a genus of

neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

epiphytic

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of floweri ...

s (family Orchidaceae). This genus is abbreviated as Crths in horticultural trade. They are native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> Bucket orchids are an excellent example of

coevolution In biology, coevolution occurs when two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution through the process of natural selection. The term sometimes is used for two traits in the same species affecting each other's evolution, as well ...

and mutualism, as the orchids have

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variati ...

along with

orchid bee The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description Most of the tribe's species ...

s (the tribe

Euglossini The tribe Euglossini, in the subfamily Apinae, commonly known as orchid bees or euglossine bees, are the only group of corbiculate bees whose non-parasitic members do not all possess eusocial behavior. Description Most of the tribe's species ...

of the family

Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

) and both depend on each other for reproduction. One to three flowers are borne on a

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

stem that comes from the base of the

pseudobulbs The pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed heteroblastic and ...

. The flower secretes a fluid (see ''

Coryanthes alborosea ''Coryanthes alborosea'' is a species of ''Coryanthes'' (bucket orchids) found in Peru. References External links alborosea Orchids of Peru {{Cymbidieae-stub ...

'' picture) into the flower lip, which is shaped like a bucket. The male orchid bees (not the females) are attracted to the flower by a strong scent from aromatic oils, which they store in specialized spongy pouches inside their swollen hind legs, as they appear to use the scent in their

courtship Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marriage. A courtship may be an informal and private m ...

dances in order to attract females. The bees, trying to get the waxy substance containing the scent, sometimes fall to the fluid-filled bucket. As they are trying to escape, they find that there are some small knobs on which they can climb on, while the rest of the lip is lined with smooth, downward-pointing hairs, upon which their claws cannot find a grip. The knobs lead to a spout (see the '' Coryanthes leucocorys'' picture), but as the bee is trying to escape, the spout constricts. At that same moment, the small packets containing the

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametop ...

of the orchid get pressed against the

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the c ...

of the bee. However, the glue on the pollen packets does not set immediately, so the orchid keeps the bee trapped until the glue has set. Once the glue has set, the bee is let free and he can now dry his wings and fly off. His ordeal may have taken as long as forty-five minutes. Hopefully for the orchid, the bee will go to another Coryanthes flower, where, if the flower is to be successful at reproducing, the bee, displaying more enthusiasm than wisdom, falls once again into the bucket of another flower of the same species. This time the pollen packets get stuck to the stigma as the bee is escaping, and after a while the orchid will produce a

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

pod. These flowers are among the largest in the Orchid Family. According to Kupper and Linsenmaier some species can be up to twelve inches (30 centimeters) wide and 6.5 inches (16 centimeters) top to bottom. '' C. bruchmuelleri'' is generally regarded as the largest species, as even the unopened buds can be 4.6 inches (11.7 centimeters long by 3 inches (8 cm) in width. The bee, having stored the aromatic oils in his back legs, can then fly off to mate with a female bee.

History

Some of the first investigations on ''Coryanthes'' were published by Cruger in 1865.

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

describes his observations and experiments on some species of ''Coryanthes'' in his book ''The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilized by Insects''. However, Darwin thought it was the female bees that were doing the fertilizing, and it was almost 100 years before the role of the male euglossine bees were revealed in 1961.Dodson, C. H. and G.P. Frymire (1961) ''Natural pollination of orchids''. Mo. Bot. Gard. Bull. 49(9):133-152

Intergeneric hybrids

* ''Coryhopea'' (''Coryanthes'' × ''Stanhopea'')

Gallery

Image:Coryanthes alborosea Orchi 04.jpg, '' Coryanthes
alborosea'' Image:Coryanthes gerlachiana Orchi 02.jpg, '' Coryanthes
gerlachiana'' Image:Coryanthes hunteriana Orchi 01.jpg, '' Coryanthes
hunteriana'' Image:Coryanthes leucocorys Orchi 02.jpg, '' Coryanthes
leucocorys'' Image:Coryanthes macrantha Orchi 03.jpg, '' Coryanthes
verrucolineata'' Image:Coryanthes macrocorys Orchi 01.jpg, '' Coryanthes
macrocorys'' Image:Coryanthes maculata Orchi 02.jpg, '' Coryanthes
maculata'' Image:Coryanthes mastersiana Orchi 01.jpg, '' Coryanthes
mastersiana'' Image:Coryanthes picturata Orchi 01.jpg, '' Coryanthes
picturata'' Image:Coryanthes speciosa Orchi 02.jpg, '' Coryanthes
speciosa'' Image:Coryanthes trifoliata Orchi 01.jpg, '' Coryanthes
trifoliata'' Image:Coryanthes verrucolineata Orchi 04.jpg, '' Coryanthes
verrucolineata''

References

External links

* * * (1831) Botanical Magazine 58: t. 3102. * (2009) Epidendroideae (Part two). Genera Orchidacearum 5: 407 ff. Oxford University Press.
Photo collections of ''Coryanthes'' from Botanical Garden Munich
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3484449 Stanhopeinae genera