Shape-shifters in the canopy: following the dramatic transformation of orchid seeds after their germination, Te Papa, July 2026
Scientists from the Lions Ōtari Plant Conservation Laboratory and Te Papa have followed and documented the changes orchid seeds undergo from germination to adult form. A description of these rarely seen stages will help conservation scientists identify tiny orchid seedlings growing on moss- and lichen-covered tree trunks and determine whether new generations are becoming established. Curator Botany Carlos Lehnebach and Research Technician Jennifer Alderton-Moss discuss it below.
With almost 30,000 species across the world, orchids display a remarkable diversity of shapes, colours, sizes, and habitat preferences. In temperate parts of the world, orchids are normally ground dwellers (i.e. terrestrial), while in the tropics they grow as epiphytes – a word that literally means to be on a plant. Epiphytic orchids grow on shrubs or trees without either harming or helping their hosts. Growing off the ground can protect plants from browsers and increase their access to sunlight, but the trade-off is that they do not grow in soil – meaning they rely on rainwater to deliver essential nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
Orchids can employ outside help to cope with this precarious way of life. They allow fungi to live within their roots, a symbiosis known as mycorrhiza (myco = fungus, rhiza = root). These mycorrhizal partners extend beyond the plant’s immediate habitat, accessing nutrients via thread-like structures called hyphae. This orchid-fungus relationship is important to the plant survival but plays an even more crucial role during seed germination.