Satyrium coriifolium flower fortune
Author: Ivan Lätti
Photographer: Judd Kirkel Welwitch
The flowers of the terrestrial orchid, Satyrium coriifolium grow in a spike. The darkest parts in picture are the triangular tips of the deflexed bracts among the flowers, folded down.
Flowering happens late in winter until after midspring. Pollination is done by sunbirds, particularly the malachite sunbird. The birds probe the spurs for nectar (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Liltved and Johnson, 2012; Manning, 2007; Moriarty, 1997; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).