Just the Facts: ORCHIDS

Orchid growers probably hear an awed "What is that beautiful flower?" more often than any other plant grower. Probably since conciousness originated, the orchid flower has been considered the most beautiful flower ever created. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so there must be a person who doesn't like an orchid, but I don't know any.

The Orchidaceae family has been collected and studied for more than 200 years with taxonomists describing over 800 genera and 24,000 species plus. But, probably more importantly, orchid enthusiasts have cultivated thousands and thousands of varieties called cultivars. Actually, most of the plants you might see at an orchid sale/show would be cultivars, not the original species.

Orchids are monocotyledons which places them in the same group of plants as the grasses and palms. Such plants have the leaf veins running longwise as opposed to the cotyledonous plants which have radially formed veins.

Orchids can be found in almost any ecosystem in the world, especially the tropical climates. In many countries they have been collected to almost extinction. Most countries recognize the inherent worth of these plants and protect them; however, that has been only semi-successful as their beauty places them under constant pressure from collectors.