Orchid Plants

The Orchidaceae, or more commonly known as the orchid family, is one of the most diverse families of flowering plants in the world, with over 28,000 known species and over 100,000 varieties. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica and are known for their great fragrance. As a result, orchids are widely used in perfumes and aromatherapy. Vanilla extract, a commonly used flavor enhancer in sweets and baked goods, is even derived from the vanilla orchid plant. Orchids can range in size, shape, and color, with a majority of them being found in the understory of tropical forests. To the Aztecs, orchids symbolized power and strength. To the ancient Greeks, orchids symbolized fertility. They have been cultivated for over 3,000 years, dating back to the Chinese and have been a treasure for so many worldwide ever sense.

Fast Facts

1. The orchid family has over 880 different types (called genera) and over 28,000 species, which is more than double the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species.
2. Numerous orchids only come in white because they are pollinated by nocturnal insects or animals, and the white color is the most “eye-catching” to these pollinators. The others generally give off a strong fragrance at night since their nocturnal pollinators rely primarily on scent instead of visual cue. Examples are the aerangis and amesiella.
3. In ancient Greece, it was believed that parents could choose the sex of their child by having one parent eat the orchid’s tubers. If the father ate thick, fleshier tubers, the child would be a boy. If the mother ate smaller, thinner tubers, the child would be a girl.
4. The pink orchid is the traditional flower for a couple’s 14th and 25th wedding anniversary.
5. The world’s smallest orchid grows to be only 2 mm wide at its peak.
6. The slipper orchid has a unique method of pollination. It lures an insect into its slippery pouch and the only escape for the victim is to crawl through a very narrow crevice within the plant, forcing it to rub against the attached pollen. When that same insect gets lured into another slipper orchid, cross-pollination occurs through the same process.
7. The Orchidaceae family encompasses about 11% of all seed plants in the world.
8. The world’s tallest orchid, the sobralia altissima from the forest of Peru, can grow to a height of 44 feet tall!
9. Orchid’s seeds develop in capsules and are extremely tiny, sometimes mistaken for dust or spores. Since the seeds are so small, they don’t contain enough nutrition to grow a new plant themselves, so they develop a symbiotic relationship with fungus, which provides the nutrients for them to grow.
10. Orchids have developed highly specialized pollination systems, thus the chances of being pollinated are often scarce, so orchid flowers usually remain receptive for very long periods, rendering unpollinated flowers long-lasting in cultivation. Most orchids deliver pollen in a single mass. Each time pollination succeeds, thousands of ovules can be fertilized.