This poor guy didn't open quite right. One of the sepals got bound up and didn't flare the way it should
Oh well, it's still one of the most unusual blooms you'll ever find!
This is coryanthese macrantha. The flowers are pendulous...the orchid usually grows on the sides of trees way up in the canopy. The flower has a largish bowl on the bottom that fills up with water. The pollinator, a species of bee, is attracted to the flower, slips and falls into the bowl where the collected water prevents it from flying back out. The only way out is a small tunnel at the back of the flower. Some species even have a step to help the bee find the way out! When the bee climbs up through the tunnel, it picks up the pollen...which is all nicely held together in a waxy ball on a sticky string. The bee later falls into another flower. This time, when it climbs out, a little barb on the pistil hooks the ball of waxy pollen and pulls it off the bee!
Here's a picture of the bowl:
It's too dry in my house for it to fill up appreciably. In the large picture below, you can see a water drop being excreted to fill it though.
And here's the flower from the back where you can see the caps over the pollen and the tunnel the bee has to find its way through: In this view, it's more obvious that the left sepal didn't unfurl properly. The flower should be symmetric from this view.
The entire flower is about 5" across! This is the first time this particular plant has bloomed for me. The flowers only last 2-3 days.
Here's a bonus pic of a coryanthese macrocorys I used to have back in the day. Same pollination mechanism. I miss that plant!
