“Rhizanthella gardneri, also known as Western Underground Orchid, was discovered in the spring of 1928 in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.
Jack Trott had bent to investigate an odd crack that had appeared in his garden’s soil, and had noticed a sweet smell that arose from the ground. Scraping away the soil, he soon uncovered a tiny white flower, about half an inch across, growing underground. What he had found was an entirely new type of orchid.
The white leafless plant is made up of a tube which produces a flowerhead. Unlike any other orchid in Australia, the Western Australian underground orchid remains completely underground for its whole life. Not being able to obtain the sun’s energy, it instead feeds on the broom honeymyrtle, a shrub. It is linked to it by a fungus named Thanatephorus gardneri”
(via catsluck)
