Calopogon multiflorus
| Calopogon multiflorus | |
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| Calopogon multiflorus flowers | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Genus: | Calopogon |
| Species: | C. multiflorus |
| Binomial name | |
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Calopogon multiflorus Lindl. |
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| Synonyms | |
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The many-flowered grass-pink (Calopogon multiflorus) is a species of orchid. It is a perennial forb that requires recurring ground fires to maintain its habitat. It falls under the genus Calopogon, meaning "beautiful beard" in Greek, referring to the stamen-like bristles or beard on the lip.
Calopogon multiflorus is distributed throughout southeastern United States. It can be found mainly in Florida and also Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. This species has become endangered in Florida and North Carolina.
Calopogon multiflorus can be found in dry to moist flatwoods with wiregrass, longleaf pine, and saw palmetto. Its habitat also includes mesic pine savannahs on flat or gently-sloping terrain. These longleaf pine savannas were once widespread in southeastern North America, and they burned naturally at least once a decade (see map in fire ecology). Large areas of suitable habitat have since been lost from logging and fire suppression.
The soil it grows in is usually sandy to loamy and acidic. Other species that are found growing nearby in the same habitat are longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), little gallberry/ink berry (Ilex glabra), slender bluestem (Schizachyrium tenerum), little bluestem (S. scoparium), and savannah meadow beauty (Rhexia alifanus). Over a wide range, this species typically does not occur on wet savannahs and bogs with pitcher plants, although one location in Louisiana does have some plants coexisting with pitcher plants.
C. multiflorus requires prescribed annual winter fires for its appearance. In this way it is typical of many of the understory plants in pine savannas. It is known to bloom six to eight weeks after a burn, likely benefitting from the lack of competition with other plants, and the nutrients released during a fire.
Characteristics of C. multiflorus are a dark purple rachis, a forked corm; pandurate lateral petals; elongated, acuminate floral bracts measuring (0.3–0.8)×(0.3–0.5) cm; and a pungent floral fragrance at peak anthesis.
This species falsely lures naïve, recently emerged bees with the offer of pollen, but it is not fulfilled.The beard of the flower is deceptive in that once the insect lands on it, the lip of the beard swings down, hingelike, placing the insect’s head and back on the column thereby picking up the pollinum, or placing the pollinum on the stigma if the insect already carries a load on its back.
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Wikipedia