If you think a desk calendar with 52 photos of orchids might be a bit repetitive, you’ll be surprised by Jesus Moreno Navarro’s new publication.
“If humans represent the peak of animal evolution, orchids show us Mother Nature at her best when it comes to flora,” Moreno said at the launch of “Orquidias de Jalisco-Diversidad,” a 2009 agenda.
Diversidad means diversity and it’s the key word to describe these photos, although “gorgeous” is more likely to spring to your lips when you see most of the pictures. To be honest, however, some orchids really look bizarre and a few are downright scary. So why should there be so much variety in one flower?
The answer was given by Moreno during his slide show at SIGNOS Secondary School and College last Tuesday:
“Each species of orchid is designed to attract one particular pollinator,” the naturalist explained. “It may be an ant, for example and the orchid will create a kind of path on its petals which forces the ant to walk through a narrow slot where it will be touched by fine hairs that deposit pollen. Another orchid is designed to make a certain wasp angry. The wasp attacks the orchid and in the process, pollinates it. Another – which has absolutely no nectar – disguises itself as a competing flower which does have nectar. Every orchid is an advertisement. Every orchid is a show. It says, ‘Come to me!’”
As Maria E. Fors of SIGNOS puts it in the introduction to this unusual publication, “Only the combination of naturalist and photographer could produce a work which requires so much observation, patience and obstinacy.”
Well said. Moreno has put in 20 years scouring the hills of Jalisco in search of orchids, which range in size from the huge to smaller than a fingernail.
“Once you find an orchid, it probably won’t be flowering,” Moreno explained, “so you note its location and keep coming back until one day it blooms and you can get your picture.”
To see a small sample of Moreno’s work, go to www.RanchoPint.com and click on orchids. To buy the 2009 desk calendar (the perfect Christmas gift), contact Jesus Moreno (he speaks English) at jesusmna2@terra.com.mx or call (33) 3151-0722.
The agenda is soft cover, spiral-bound and measures 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. Cost: 200 pesos.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
