Bees Kicking the Orchid Buckets
Just the other day, my prospector friend Stormie Waters stopped by my place to discuss something she read in a nature magazine. It was about a mutually beneficial relationship that bucket orchids have with a certain kind of bee.
Symbiotic relationship are difficult for proponents of atoms-to-astronaut evolution, settling for "it evolved" as a standard non-explanation. As we saw in the post about giganticism, thinking people want them to back up their assertions. The bucket orchid and its bee show the work of the Master Designer.
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| Euglossine bees visiting Coryanthes speciosa Hook, Flickr / Alex Popovkin (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) |
If these bucket orchids had volition, it would seem fitting to refer to them as sneaky. They trap the bees for a while to equip them to help with pollination, which includes affixing pollinia to their legs. The fluid that covers the bees assists them in their courtship. A "win-win situation", as some folks say, even though the trapping of the bees is actually rather funny.
While scientists look at function and results, I see something else in all this. Our Creator had made beauty, pleasant fragrances, and that sort of thing. Many times, the only benefit is for our pleasure. He cares for us to give us those blessings as well.
Flowers hold a fascination for most people. They have at least a threefold purpose: First for attracting animals (e.g., insects, birds, and mammals) for reproduction via pollination, the second for their medical and aesthetic value, and the third is that the ovary of the flower grows into fruit—a valuable source of food.The orchids (Orchidacea) are a large family of flowering plants commonly called the orchid family. God designed them to be fragrant and their blooms unique and functional in fascinating ways. Orchids are designed with bilateral symmetry and tiny seeds.
You can read the rest by clicking on "Bucket Orchids and Bees, a Codependent Design."