Platanthera flava [Northern Tubercled] [pollination & insect interaction]

Plume Moth on Northern Tubercled Orchid [Platanthera flava]. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-25-24

Celery Leftier Moth caterpillar seen feeding on Platanthera flava. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-27-24

Unknown spider hunting on Platanthera flava. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-27-24

Marsh Fly (Euthycera arcuata] on Platanthera flava. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-27-24

Six Spotted Orbweaver [Araniella displicata] hunting on Platanthera Flava. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-27-24.

These two pictures above and below tries to help unravel the mysteries of the pollination of Platanthera Flava. First the tubercle at the back of the lip divides the nectary into two openings which forces the pollinator [Yellow Spotted Webworm [Anageshna drimordialis] is a known pollinator] and its proboscis to come into contact with viscidium. When the moth leaves it pulls the pollinia from the anther sack and is now stuck to the proboscis, upon entering the next flower the pollinia comes into contact with the stigma and pollination has now been completeted. Notice the anther sack on the right is empty and the pollinarium has been removed and the viscidium is also missing as it has been successfully visited by a pollinator. Just one tiny flower on one one orchid and its amazing strategy for completing pollination and the continuation of its species.

These pictures above & below shows a complete pollinia has been succesfully deposited on the stigma and pollination has beeen completed. Platanthera flava

Plume Moth on Northern Tubercled Orchid [Platanthera flava]. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-25-24

This Plume Moth is searching the left side of the tubercle [the ridge in the middle] with its proboscis trying to locate the openning to nectary, and thus the spur containing the nectar. Northern Tubercled Orchid [Platanthera flava]. Another ingenious example of an orchid finding a way to force a pollinator to come into contact with the anther sacks and the pollinarium and the pollinia contained within. In the case of P. flava because of the tubercle, the pollinator can only enter the nectary either on the left or right side where it forced to come into with the anther sack. Luzerne County, Pa. 6-25-24 [it is unknown whether plume moths are a pollinator of this orchid, but it would seem that this picture and others are strong evidence to support it, but more research is needed]

These two pictures [above and below] clearly demonstrates the incredible, ingenious lengths that just one orchid, in this case Northern Tubercled Orchid [Platanthera flava], has gone to insure that a moth [in this instance a plume moth] will line up correctly with the nectary opening through a tubercle placed in perfectly in the middle of the lip. All this to ensure that the moths proboscis will come into contact with the anther sack holding the pollen and hopefully and possibly [in the case of the plume moth] pollination will occur by this pollen coming into contact with the stigma on the next flower.

My Afternoon with Twelve Orchids by David J. Hand

On Sunday June 25 in Carbon County, Pa. I went to see a population of Platanthera flava [Northern Tubercled Orchid]. I had seen this population 12 years ago and had remembered seeing Plume Moths on P. flava. I was not very interested in orchid pollination at the time or interaction between insects and orchids as I am today. When I had gotten there on Sunday, I was excited to say the least, could it be possible that what I had witnessed all those years ago, could still be seen, or was it a just a chance encounter that I had many years earlier. To my amazement when I reached the area, I found 12 plants in a cluster. And there just as I had remembered from 12 years ago, there were Plume Moths covering, and apparently, feeding of the flowers in the middle of the day.
I sat down in the middle of the flowers and knew what I had to do, try and document to the best of my ability just what I was seeing by observing and photographing these tiny moths interacting with the orchid.
After one of the finest days in the field I have ever had just observing and photographing, and never moving for four hours and taking four thousand pictures, I was more in awe of the natural world than ever. These tiny Plume Moths, not much bigger than a mosquito, are fascinating and beautiful creatures in their own right, and I can see spending one’s life pursuing and studying these tiny jewels of the insect world, insects that I had never seen before except on these two occasions separated by twelve years.
At first, they would be drawn to the flowers by a sweet scent and always came in from downwind. [P. flava are noticeably fragrant] They would attach themselves to the flowers and place their proboscis in a trough, on the left or right side of the flower created by a prominent tubercle in the middle of the lower lip. This trough aligns perfectly to a tiny opening to the nectary and spur.
But I also observed moths and their proboscis seemly collecting tiny grains of pollen from the area of the anther sacks. I observed many anther sacs that seemed to be ruptured with tiny grains of pollen [pollinia] laying around free of the anther sacs. The moths, with their proboscis, would take a great deal of time probing and exploring inside the flowers. After an extended time of foraging, they would pull their heads from out of the flower, and you could visibly see tiny grains of pollinia on their mouth parts, heads and faces. These tiny grains were also visible on the proboscis as they would pull it toward their mouth parts and feed on it.
I am no expert, and I am not suggesting that what I observed that day was the pollination of Plathanthera flava by Plume Moths, that is for others much more educated and learned than myself to decide. But what I am suggesting is we have so much to learn from nature and there is so much the natural world can teach us by just sitting down and observing what is all around us and what we take for granted every day. There in the tiny blades of grass there is a whole world we never see or understand, and I am so very grateful for it, this interaction between a tiny unseen moth and an orchid and the simple beauty of life all around us, even the life we don’t see. And whether we see it or not you can bet that it is always there, this unseen beautiful world around us.
These pictures clearly demonstrates the incredible, ingenious lengths that just one orchid, in this case Northern Tubercled Orchid [Platanthera flava], has gone to insure that a moth [in this instance a plume moth] will line up correctly with the nectary opening through a tubercle placed in perfectly in the middle of the lip. All this to ensure that the moths proboscis will come into contact with the anther sack holding the pollen and hopefully and possibly [in the case of the plume moth] pollination will occur by this pollen coming into contact with the stigma on the next flower.

This picture is an enlargement of the picture below, it shows what appears to be possibly pollinarium on the proboscis of Plume Moth. Plume Moth is not known to be a pollinator of Platanthera flava, but this picture may suggest otherwise. Carbon County, Pa. 6-29-12

Plume Moth, a possible pollinator for Platanthera flava, searching for nectar, as it does emit a very sweet fragrance. Carbon County, Pa. 6-29-12

Plume Moths, a possible pollinator for Platanthera flava, searching for nectar, as it does emit a very sweet fragrance. Carbon County, Pa. 6-29-12

Platanthera flava [Northern Tubercled] ​[pollination & insect interaction]

My Afternoon with Twelve Orchids by David J. Hand

Platanthera flava [Northern Tubercled] [pollination & insect interaction]