Most flowers need open air to thrive. Not this one. This one grows underground.

Most flowers need open air to thrive. Not this one. This one grows underground.

Rhizanthella gardneri, also known as Western Underground Orchid, is a plant in the orchid family, discovered in the spring of 1928 in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.

It was discovered in 1928 by a farmer after he noticed a sweet smell coming from the ground. The discovery generated such excitement that a wax model was toured around the British Isles.

The white leafless plant is made up of a fleshy underground storage stem (or tuber), which produces flower head consisting of around 150 tightly packed, tiny flowers.

The Western Australian underground orchid remains completely underground for it's whole life.

This particular orchid is a myco-heterotroph as it relies completely on the broom honeymyrtle and fungus for it's nutrients and carbon dioxide.

(Source)

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