In this night scene the ghost orchid’s creamy white colored flowers standout before a more subtle but detailed rendering of the orchid’s stems and roots. Yet looking closer at this print you will find one of the orchid’s enigmatic pollinator moths: the fig sphinx moth.
The ghost orchid was made famous by The Orchid Thief, a 1998 non-fiction book written by journalist Susan Orlean and later adapted into a movie. The ghost orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) is a rare, leafless epiphytic orchid with white flowers found mostly in the bald cypress and pond apple swamps of south Florida. It relies on a symbiotic relationship with specific mycorrhizal fungi for seed germination and nutrient acquisition, a dependency that complicates conservation efforts.
In addition, for many years, this orchid’s pollinator species remained unconfirmed. Recent studies have observed the fig sphinx moth (Pachylia ficus) acting as a pollinator for this species, challenging previous assumptions that only the giant sphinx moth (Cocytius antaeus) could fulfill this role.
You can see this orchid at the Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, and the Naples Botanical Garden.
Conservationists are actively working to preserve this enigmatic species. The Naples Botanical Garden in particular is working to conserve and propagate this special orchid as part of its regional orchid conservation efforts, both onsite and in partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University.
- David Shepard: artist, conservationist, and fashion designer