In Jack and the Beanstalk, seeds tossed out a window spring up overnight, reaching a secret land high above the Earth. In reality, beanstalks, peas, clover, and other plants in the family Fabaceae don’t grow to
In Jack and the Beanstalk, seeds tossed out a window spring up overnight, reaching a secret land high above the Earth. In reality, beanstalks, peas, clover, and other plants in the family Fabaceae don’t grow to the clouds, but they come surprisingly close. If you’ve ever planted beans or peas in your garden only to find that they’ve taken over your entire yard, or you’ve tried to remove all the clover from your lawn, you know that Fabaceae are tough plants which can grow in abundance just about anywhere.
The bean plants in the Fabaceae family are perhaps the exact opposite of those in the Orchidaceae, or orchid family. Orchids tend to be very difficult to grow because they have very specific environmental requirements for germination, survival, and propagation. If there is a plant the exact antithesis of Jack’s hearty beansprout, it just might be the elusive and fragile Anacamptis morio, or green-winged orchid. Over the last century this species has lost about 99% of its preferred habitat in England, making it very rare. The orchid is a slender little sprout only about 6 inches tall with a pale green stem and about half a dozen purple flowers, each the size of a grape. When the flowers are pollinated, they can produce tiny seeds no bigger than a speck of dust.
These plants are as particular as they are tiny. In order for one of these green-winged orchids to grow, several barriers must be surmounted. First, one of the very few remaining green-winged