Arjun Adit and (right) flowers of a Habenaria nyikana plant
Arjun Adit, from the School of Life Sciences, University of Kwazulu-Natal is currently visiting Mountainlands. He hopes to observe and film the pollinator of the Greenpad Ghost Orchid, Habenaria nyikana. These are robust plants with greenish white flowers and can grow up to 1.2m tall in the grasslands. He has placed 8 trail cameras fitted with close up lenses focusing on flowers that will film any movement during the night. According to Arjun, it should be a moth that pollinates the plants and video footage will indicate when it flies and what species it is. His observations will link to research he is doing on the same orchid species that occur in the Cumberland area of Kwazulu-Natal. We wish him all the best and hope he will be able to gather the necessary information.
