Flower
Star-like waxy flowers are produced on 30 cm (11.8 in) inflorescences arising from the stem from June to September in the wild with most flowers wilting by August. When cultivated in Europe however, the plant flowers between December and January. This flowering habit is what lends the orchid several of its common names, such as "Comet orchid" due to the shape of its flower and "Christmas orchid" due to the timing of its flowering. Each flower opens up with a green coloration, but eventually turns white with tones of light green. The amount of green in each flower can vary from plant to plant. It is claimed that the age-dependent color change is more pronounced in wild A. sesquipedale than in greenhouse-grown plants. The sepals tend to stay green for a longer time than the petals. As the flower ages further it goes from white to yellowish and then from orange to brown as it begins to wilt. As the wilting progresses the dorsal sepal bends down and then the lateral sepals bend inward with the lip remaining fairly stationary. Finally the entire flower closes in on itself. A distinctive feature of the flowers is that they have a long green spur attached. The spur of the flower is 27–43 cm (10.6–16.9 in) from its tip to the tip of the flower's lip. The specific epithet sesquipedale is Latin for "one-and-a-half-feet-long," referring to the distance between the end of the spur and the very top of the dorsal sepal. At the end of the spur is a small amount of nectar usually about 40–300 µl in volume. In general, longer spurs tend to have greater concentrations of nectar. This nectar fills the spur up to within 7 to 25 cm (2.8 to 9.8 in) from the bottom of the spur. The nectar has been found to contain the sugars fructose, sucrose, glucose, and raffinose. The flowers produce an extremely intense spicy scent that can easily fill a room; this fragrance is only present during the night and is reminiscent of lily and some nocturnally flowering Nicotiana species. The scent has been found to be composed of approximately 39 different chemical constituents with its greatest concentration consisting of isovaleraldoxime, methyl benzoate, benzyl alcohol, isovaleronitrile, benzyl benzoate, phenylethyl alcohol, isovaleraldehyde, and phenylacetaldoxime. Usually 1 to 5 flowers are produced at a time.
Read more about this topic: Angraecum Sesquipedale
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