Darwin day is coming up next month. And serving as a precursor of sorts, a rare orchid Darwin had connections to is blooming and on display here in Florida. Darwin had made a prediction about long moth tongues that was proven true after his death: the Predicted Moth. The orchid is at Selby Gardens and the story is in the Herald Tribune.
SARASOTA — As a seductress, it’s the plant world’s equal to Marilyn Monroe or Angelina Jolie.
But the Comet Orchid, now blooming at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, is loyal to only one. And her pollinator must be well-endowed to drink her nectar.
When Charles Darwin discovered this orchid, found only on the west coast of Madagascar, he predicted one day entomologists would find a moth with an 18-inch-long tongue.
The prediction was the stuff of sexual jokes, and Darwin got the reputation for being daft.
Darwin was proved correct about 40 years after he died, when a Madagascar moth was discovered with just such a tongue. Its Latin name means the predicted moth.
