THE 'MONKEY ORCHID' LOOKS LIKE A MONKEY!

[Bible Speaks]

THE 'MONKEY ORCHID' LOOKS LIKE A MONKEY! - I Love Orchids!! - Had to post! ~

This is the rare Monkey Orchid, found only in high elevations of Ecuador and Peru. The primate-esque flowers are formally known as 

Analysis: The photo is real — this orchid does exist, and the colorful center of the flower does resemble the face of a monkey or baboon — but the captions above are only semi-correct. The actual species name is Dracula gigas (Dracula meaning "dragon," gigas meaning "giant"), not Dracula simia. The latter is also a real species, and its flower resembles a monkey face as well (as do several other members of the Dracula genus), but it's not the same orchid pictured above.

Nor, despite its appearance, is the common name of the pictured flower "Monkey Orchid." That distinction belongs to yet another species, Orchis simia, whose purple flowers resemble a monkey's torso (there is also a "Monkeyface Orchid," Platanthera integrilabia). There are over 20,000 species of orchids, many of which are visually reminiscent of other creatures and sundry inanimate objects, both natural and man-made. "Orchids have diverse and unflowerlike looks," observed Susan Orlean in her 1988 book, The Orchid Thief (New York: Ballantine). "One species looks just like a German shepherd dog with its tongue sticking out. One species looks like an onion. One looks like an octopus. One looks like a human nose. One looks like the kind of fancy shoes that a king might wear. One looks like Mickey Mouse. One looks like a monkey. One looks dead." They aren't the only mimics in the plant kingdom (cf. the Parrot Flower of Southeast Asia and the South African Bird of Paradise), but in terms of sheer inventiveness and diversity the orchid family is in a league of its own.

Native to Peru and Ecuador and available for purchase on the Internet. Here's a site that sells monkey orchids of various types.

WARNING: Do not confuse D. simia and related species with Orchis simia, also commonly known as a "monkey orchid." Where D. simia looks like a monkey and smells like a ripe orange, O. simia doesn't look at all like a monkey and smells bad. 

Thank you Jehovah! You Perform Miracles! 

Via Geekologi

https://g.co/kgs/34A3mj