Costus speciosus or crape ginger is possibly the best known cultivated species of the genus Costus. This plant is native to southeast Asia, especially on the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. Costus differs from the common ginger by having only one row of spirally arranged leaves.

The species reproduces vegetatively by rhizome and birds disperse seeds when they feed on the fruits.

While it is native to many Pacific Islands, it is an introduced invasive species on others, including the Cook Islands, Fiji, and Hawaii. It is cultivated in India for its medicinal uses and elsewhere as an ornamental.

The plant has many historical uses in Ayurveda, where the rhizome has been used to treat fever, rash, asthma, bronchitis, and intestinal worms. It is mentioned in the Kama Sutra as an ingredient in a cosmetic to be used on the eyelashes to increase sexual attractiveness.

C. speciosus has a large number of common names in many languages, including isebsab (Palauan), keukand (Hindi), pakarmula (Gujarati), pushkarmula (Marathi and Sanskrit), and kostam (Tamil).

Macodes is one of a few genera of the orchid family known as jewel orchids. These terrestrial orchids grows in the rainforest floor of Southeast Asia with high humidity and low light. The plant is cultivated for the veined leaves, unlike other orchids that are valued for the flowers.

The Bumblebee Orchid (Ophrys bombyliflora) ("Bumblebee Flower Eyebrow") is a typical example. It has flowers that look and smell so much like female Bumblebees that males flying nearby are irresistibly drawn in by this chemical signal, stimulating them sexually. The insect gets so excited that he starts to copulate with the flower. This is termed pseudocopulation. The firmness, the smoothness and the velvety hairs of the lip are a further incentive for the insect to enter the flower. The pollinia inadvertently stick to the head or the abdomen of the male bumblebee. On visiting another orchid of the same species, the bumblebee pollinates its sticky stigma with the pollinia. The filaments of the pollinia have, during transport, taken such a position that the waxy pollen are able to stick to the stigma. Such is the refinement of the reproduction. If the filaments hadn’t taken the new position, the pollinia could not have pollinated the new orchid.

"Ophrys" is from the Greek in reference to the hairy lips of the flowers of this genus.

"bymbyli•flora" is from the Latin in reference to the silky flowers of this species.

The Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) is a perennial, temperate climate species of orchid generally found growing on semi-dry turf, on limestone, calcareous dunes or in open areas in woodland. The Bee Orchid is a common plant in the Mediterranean region eastwards to the Black Sea but is less common in its northern range being uncommon or local in Germany and Ireland. In the UK it has a distinct western preference being more common in Wales where it is often found on sand dunes. In some countries the plants have protected status. They are unusual in that in some years they appear in great numbers, then sometimes only reappear after an absence of many years.

This hardy orchid grows to a height of 30 cm. They live in a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhiza ( a soil-dwelling fungus).

The Bee Orchid develops small rosettes of leaves in autumn. They slowly continue to grow during winter. Flowers appear the following year. Each year, it produces from one to ten flowers on a spike, blooming from June to July. The flowers are almost exclusively self-pollinating in the northern ranges of the plants distribution, pollination by the solitary bee Eucera occurs sometimes in the Mediterranean area. The petals are marginal and spread out, colored mauve to pink. The flower is furry to the touch and is quite variable in the pattern of coloration, but usually brownish-red with yellow markings.

The alternate leaves are elliptical and pointed.

Bees in the past have promoted the evolution of bee orchids. Male bees, over many generations of cumulative orchid evolution, have built up the bee-like shape through trying to copulate with flowers, and hence carrying pollen.

The Bee Orchid is the county flower of Bedfordshire.