1-4-11: The Smartest Plants in the World

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EIF120104.mp3

Dennis Whigham, senior botanist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, is trying to bring back species of orchids that are threatened and nearly extinct.

Orchids are sometimes called "the smartest plants in the world" because of their ingenious ability to trick insects and people into helping with their pollination and transport. But many of the 25,000 known species of orchids are threatened or endangered, and Dennis Whigham and colleagues at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center are investigating why--and trying to bring them back.