Underground orchid  (Rhizanthella gardneri)

Description

These highly enigmatic orchids spend all of their life below the ground; even the flowering head does not break the surface of the soil (4). The plant consists of a fleshy underground storage stem (or tuber), which produces a flower head consisting of around 150 tightly packed, tiny flowers (5). When first discovered in 1928, these extraordinary orchids generated such excitement that a wax model was toured around the British Isles (4).

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