Paph sanderianum

[Marty]

WOW!
Check this out! It's not mine, I found it while surfing the web.

[Tindomul]

Thats crazy looking! Are those petals, or some other structure?

[Oscarman]

Originally Posted by Tindomul1of9

Thats crazy looking! Are those petals, or some other structure?

reminds me of the alien arms used to collect humans in War of the Worlds!

That is an outstanding example of their flower size.

[Marty]

I just watched BBC's "Life on Earth" with David Attenborough...

Makes me think too...why such a bizzare flower??? Is it to attract some weird bug? I'm curious, why this thing would develop such long appendages....that's if this thing is a specie found in nature and not a hybrid

Any theories ?

Originally Posted by Oscarman

reminds me of the alien arms used to collect humans in War of the Worlds!

That is an outstanding example of their flower size.

[Oscarman]

Originally Posted by Marty

I just watched BBC's "Life on Earth" with David Attenborough...

Makes me think too...why such a bizzare flower??? Is it to attract some weird bug? I'm curious, why this thing would develop such long appendages....that's if this thing is a specie found in nature and not a hybrid

Any theories ?

What a great show!
Paph. sanderianum is a species.
In nature everything is for a reason. I have read that the petals could serve as a ramp for pollinators.

Regardless, this is a good example of nature strutting it's stuff!

[orchiddan]

Those petals are for the ants who are the pollinators.