It's the return of Weird and Wonderful Wednesdays (I know, I know, you've all been holding your breath...)
And what a stunner of a weird and wonderful plant we have for you today. This orchid is not only a remarkable-looking flower, with all of the exotic weirdness we associate with the orchid family, but it blooms...
...only at night!
The flower was discovered by Dutch researchers in 2011, who were on a field trip to the Pacific island of New Britain (what a name for a Pacific island, huh?).
"It was so unexpected because there are so many species of orchids and not one was known [to flower] at night only," said Andre Schuiteman, orchid expert at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
"It was quite remarkable to find one, after so many years of orchid research, that is night-flowering,"
Wouldn't it be quite something to be out at night, and see these exotic-looking petals blooming out of a roadside bush in the middle of the night, when it had been closed up like a clam all through the day?
