A rare orchid that reproduces by getting wasps drunk is thriving in the gardens of Charles Darwin’s house after a two-year restoration programme.
The violet helleborine is entirely pollinated by wasps, which are usually not perceived to be the best pollinators. They’re regimented and meticulously clean themselves, scientists say, which makes the process of pollination a fairly futile prospect – there’s nothing for the pollen to cling to.
But the violet helleborine produces an intoxicating nectar cocktail to draw the wasps, which then end up buzzing all over the place and incapable of cleaning themselves. The pollen ends up anywhere the wasp may take it.
Down House in Kent was the home to Charles Darwin and his family; his most famous book, On the Origin of Species, was written in the study there. The head gardener Antony O’Rourke said: “The gardens at Down House were Darwin’s ‘outdoor laboratory’ and are a living monument to some of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind.” The aim is to make the gardens look as if he had just stepped away.
But in Darwin’s lifetime, the violet helleborine could not have grown on his land because the young woodlands around the house were not suitable for the species – the violet helleborine needs to be secreted in very dark places for it to thrive. The special orchids need an extremely specialist habitat consisting of mixed beech woodland in clay over chalk. As the woods have matured, the habitat has become ideal.
A conservation project over the last two years means that the violet helleborine is now flourishing. Christopher Weddell, English Heritage’s senior gardens adviser for the south, said he and his colleagues were staggered by the number of the species. Their growth in the woodlands started off as fairly insignificant, but when in full bloom “once it catches your eye, it’s wonderful,” Weddell said. The orchids are expected to flower throughout August in a plentiful display.
According to Weddell, “evolution is running its course, and it’s nice that it’s coming full circle”.
The violet helleborine shares a close relation to the broadleaf helleborine, an orchid that Darwin studied when he identified that some orchids specialise in certain insects to ensure pollination.
Down House is resolute in its continued aim of “protecting and restoring the unique ecosystem that informed Darwin’s work”, O’Rourke said.
