Porroglossum tripollex

Porroglossum is a genus of miniature orchids all of which have spring-loaded moveable, insect-trapping lips. When the flower is disturbed by a visiting insect, the lip springs up trapping the insect against the column and hopefully effecting pollination. The genus is related to Masdevallia and includes about 50 species.

This small plant is Porroglossum tripollex from Ecuador. I have two of these, one with brown "tails" and this with yellow. The flower looks to me like a bird's beak, but tripollex means "three thumbs," a resemblance I do not see. It is cool to cold growing and comes from high altitude montane forests and is very small, the flowers only a half inch long (1.3 cm)..

In this photo the lower flower has its insect-trapping lip in the open position, while the upper flower has its lip in the closed position The plant is difficult to photograph with the lips open because the slightest disturbance cause the lips to snap shot. I left the plant sit for several hours where I was photographing it waiting for the lips to spring open again.