In the tradition of the ever popular vampire movies and TV shows, I would like to tell you guys that we in the orchid world have our own set of vampires – a species known as the “Draculas”. Well, I may be misleading you a bit. The word dracula, although it shares a name with a very famous vampire, really means “little dragon”. Nevertheless, isn’t it quite intriguing that an orchid species has this weird name?
If you look deeper into their characteristics, you will really be amazed how this orchid species resembles some of the characteristics of the vampires that are described in books, TV shows and movies nowadays.
First of all, this orchid genus has a total of 118 species all in all. They are mostly epiphytes and terrestrials living wildly in Central America and the northwest Andes. These orchids share a trait of the vampires when it comes to the place they love to thrive. They prefer places where the sun doesn’t shine on them, especially the shadows. If that is not weird enough, they prefer very cold temperatures.
These orchids aren’t only weird in the places where they love to grow. Some of the weirdest looking orchids are also in this genus. They were basically called Dracula orchids because of how their flowers appear. If you look at how the flower opens up, it resembles the mouth of a dragon. It has thick sepals with long tails. The lips are rather large and look like real tongues.
Some also say that they are called the Draculas of the orchid world because some of the orchids in this genus resemble little bats flying in the forest. Some flowers have three triangular sepals, which when viewed from afar really look like some of the weirdest creatures on our planet.
Another odd fact about them is that they attract flies, giving them the name the “lord of the flies”. Isn’t that just plainly weird?
No matter how and why they were given this name, these Dracula orchids are a really great addition to your orchid collection. If not for anything else, they would be the subject of some interesting conversations with your friends.
What do you think of the Dracula orchids? Share us your thoughts and leave us your comments.
To add to your orchid library, here are some orchid resources you must have.