Dracula chestertonii (Rchb.f.) Luer - syn.Masdevallia chestertonii Rchb.f. - Orchidaceae
The mushroom-like scent of the flowers is a semiochemical signal attracting the female of a particular fungus-fly species, main components are 1-octen-3-ol (46.0%), 3-octanone (13.6%), 1-octen-3-one (7.2%), 3-hexanone (6.5%), 2-hexanone (3.9%), and 3-octanol (2.6%).
[The scent of orchids: olfactory and chemical investigations., Kaiser, R., Elsevier Science Publishers BV., 1993, 31 and 219]
 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom earthy) |  1-octen-3-one (herbal mushroom) |
„The unusually large flower lip of Dracula chesteronii (Rchb.f.) Luer, an orchid native to the Colombian Andes, mimics by scent and appearance the fruiting body of a mushroom to attract fungus gnats… The
large lip imitates the lamellated cap of fungi so well that the fungus fly deposits its eggs in the fake mushroom cap and incidentally effects pollination of this orchid. The floral fragrance of D. chestertonii, which corresponds to what people recognize as champignon scent, includes the typical mushroom constituents
oct-1-en-3-ol, oct-1-en-3-one, octan-3-ol, and octan-3-one, making up more than 70% of the volatiles. The
flowers of the orchid D. vampira , endemic to Mount Pichincha in Ecuador, also emit a mushroom scent of comparable olfactory quality to D. chimaera.“
[Flowers and fungi use scents to mimic each other., Kaiser, R., Science, 311(5762), 2006, 806-807]
Dracula chestertonii, Cali, Colombia (2025) © Santiago Sierra-Paz CC BY-SA 4.0 inaturalist.org
Woolward, Florence H., Lehmann, F.C., The genus Masdevallia, t.59 (1896) [F.H. Woolward]
plantgenera.org