SARASOTA, Fla. — These flowers are cotton-ball shaped with dozens of long thin hairs hanging down.

They seem like a live version of a Dr. Suess creation, though its scientific name is Bulbophyllum Medusai — the Medusa Orchid.

“And all that means this is kind of like the hairs of Medusa, that Greek mythological creature,” said Angel Lara, one of the talented plant professional caring for orchids for two decades (Lara said his 40-year tenured co-worker is the real star).

The Medusa Orchid hangs in a sea of purple ones at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

It’s the “Orchid Show 2024: PURPLE!”

This summer, Time Magazine included this Sarasota spot in its annual list of the world’s greatest places.

You may see hundreds of orchids in their show, but there are more than 20,000 plants in their living research collection.

And Lara keeps a special little greenhouse within the larger greenhouse — to show miniature and rare orchids from the research collection.

“It’s basically like the jewels of the rainforest,” said Lara. “These guys have been within like our collections for 20, 30 years sometime.”

It’s a collection growing, just as the gardens’ new homes are planned for the plants — a hurricane resilient greenhouse complex by 2027.

Founded in 1973, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, gesneriads and ferns, and other tropical plants.

The Gardens are comprised of two locations — the 15-acre downtown Sarasota campus, home to orchid show — and the 30-acre Historic Spanish Point Campus.