orchid

We counted more than 100 bee orchids — which to a bee lover like me, was the climax of years of work.

Koja is concerned about the loss of unique indigenous trees like the giant orchid, already a problem before mining has even started.

“I didn’t know that orchids grew in Florida or that they grew in the wild at all,” she confesses.

Deadwood-decomposing fungi feed germinating orchids, providing the carbon their tiny seeds don't have.

“It smells pretty bad,” said Brandon Tam, the Huntington’s associate curator of orchids.