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Orchid, 2004

For legendary 19th-century scientist Charles Darwin, orchids, like the dew-beaded beauty shown here, epitomized the theory of natural selection, the belief that plants and animals evolve with traits favoring survival and reproductive success. By this measure orchids are a sensational success, with 24,000 species and 60,000 registered hybrids, far more than any other flowering plant on Earth.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Was Darwin Wrong?" November 2004, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Robert Clark