Orchidaceae tubers after detecting the plants underground by scent. Orchids have been used in traditional medicine in an effort to treat many diseases and ailments. They have been used as a source of herbal remedies in China since 2800 BC. "Gastrodia elata" is one of the three orchids listed in the earliest known Chinese Materia Medica ("Shennon bencaojing") (c. 100 AD). Theophrastus mentions orchids in his "Enquiry into Plants" (372–286 BC). Orchids have many associations with symbolic values. For example, the orchid is the City Flower of Shaoxing, China. "Cattleya mossiae" is the national Venezuelan flower, while "Cattleya trianae" is the
Flower constancy flowers and could essentially waste foraging time probing other flowers that could possibly contain less nectar. In social foragers, flower constancy could benefit the colony in that foragers avoid competition with other foragers by specializing on a specific flower type or species. In this case, individual insects, for example bees, become flower constant to avoid competition and thus increase foraging efficiency. Flower constancy Flower constancy or pollinator constancy is defined as the tendency of individual pollinators to exclusively visit certain flower species or morphs within a species, bypassing other available flower species that could potentially be more rewarding (i.e. contain