What a wonderful afternoon out at the SF Conservatory of Flowers in the Golden Gate Park. Having weathered damages from multiple storms and natural disasters in the quake-prone city, the Victorian-styled conservatory (also affectionately known as COF) is now nestled within the greenery of the park, sheltering beautiful specimens of exotic plants from the tropics across the world against the cool foggy Californian climate.
With an impressive collection of unusual orchids from the Americas, Africa, and Madagascar, COF stands out from the other conservatories that I've come across so far. Especially amazing to see is the healthy looking stands of Darwin's orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale). Our guide tells a fascinating story of co-evolution between this orchid and the long-tongued hawk moth (Xanthopan morganii). Based on the shape and unusual length of the nectar spur on the orchid, Darwin (and also his contemporary Wallace) famously predicted that its pollinator would be a moth that has a proboscis that is exactly 10-1/2 to 11 inches in length. He never witnessed the discovery but eventually the moth with this specific structure was discovered and later filmed in the act of pollinating a specimen of this unusual orchid many decades later. Evolutionary theory is both explanatory and predictive!
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| Darwin's Orchid |
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