Science break

For those of you who don't already know, I grow orchids, mainly species (as opposed to hybrids). Some of the species have such fascinating natural histories...

This individual plant just bloomed for me for the first time. It's Angraecum sesquipedale, a species native to Madagascar. When Charles Darwin examined specimens of these plants that had been imported to England, he saw that the nectary spur of the flower is 12 to 14 inches long and he predicted that there had to be a pollinator (probably a moth, since they are known to be attracted to night-fragrant light-colored flowers like this one) with a proboscis just as long. Most people scoffed.

Darwin died without knowing if he was correct. Some fifty years later, just such a moth was discovered to be pollinating this orchid, with its 12- to 14-inch proboscis. 

It was named Xanthopan morganii praedicta.

How cool is that?