Science Pub: Orchid Sex à la Miniature

We’ve heard of pollination and pollinators—familiar flowers in our gardens and their friends. What happens when a flower is so small that it’s difficult to see with the naked eye? How do you call your pollinators to you when you’re a 2-millimeter orchid? And who answers the call?

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Curator of Malacology Daniel L. Geiger, Ph.D., reveals the answers with his incredible scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of tiny orchids. A lively and passionate speaker, Dr. Geiger will delight lovers of plants, pollinators, and powerful microscopes. A globally recognized SEM expert and authority on the orchid genus Oberonia, Geiger has chaired the Research Committee of the American Orchid Society and is a visiting research scholar with the Huntington Botanical Gardens. He has named over 100 new species of snails, crabs, fish, and orchids. One genus and ten species are named after him.

Join the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History‘s fun and friendly conversation and quench your thirst for knowledge about science and nature in this ongoing series of free science talks held on the second Monday of every month. No tickets or reservations required but be sure to get to Dargan’s (18 E. Ortega St. in downtown Santa Barbara) early to secure a seat and order your favorite food and drink.

For more information, contact Charlotte Zeamer at czeamer@sbnature2.org.

Photo of Daniel Geiger by Chuck Place