* Orchid, common name for a family comprising one of the largest groups of flowering plants. The family is worldwide in distribution, being absent only from Antartica and some of the most arid desert zones of Eurasia. The greatest diversity of genera and species occurs in tropical regions that remain largely unexplored. For this reason, and because of the complexity of the family, estimates of the number of orchid species vary from 15,000 to 25,000, and the number of genera from 400 to 800. Apart from their popularity among horticulturists, orchids have little economic importance. Orchid flowers are borne on stalks called pedicels, as are other flowers. During the growth and development of the orchid flower, the pedicel rotates 180°, so that the mature flower is borne upside down. Of the flower's three sepals (outer floral whorls) and three petals (inner floral whorls), all the sepals and the two lateral petals are usually similar to one another in color and shape. The remaining petal, always distinct from them, is called the labellum, or lip; it is usually larger and different in color and shape, often being lobed or cupped.
* Scientific classification: Orchids make up the family Orchidaceae.
* Orchidaceae are one of the largest plant families, containing about 20,000 species, nearly one seventh of all flower-bearing plants. They are found everywhere in the world except in the Artic. Some flourish at altitudes of up to 3 miles. One Australian species, Rhizanthella Gardeneri, grows and flowers completely underground.
* Cymbidium erythrostylum in the cymbidium species has produced the earliest and shapeliest standard sized blooms.
* There's a MYTH that ORCHIDS ARE PARASITES and it is wrong.
Of the 20,000 species that grow around the world, not one is parasitic. Orchids grow on trees but they are not parasites. They merely use the branches for support. They take no nurtrients from their hosts.
* Darwin claimed that there must be an insect with a 12" long tongue after he had examined the orchid Angraecum Sesquipedale, whose nectar is particularly inacessible. His surmise was proved correct 40 years later when the long tongued Xanthoaan Morgani Praedicta was first seen. Darwin also calculated that if every seed from one European spotted orchid germinated successfully, it would cover the entire land surface of the earth in 3 generations. Fortunately the seeds only develop if they land on a certain fungi.
* There's a MYTH that ORCHIDS ARE CARNIVOROUS which is wrong.
They do lure pollinating insects by a variety of devices but they do not feed on them.
* Scientific evidence would appear to prove that orchids were on earth some 20,000,000 years ago growing in every continent other than the Antarctic. The earliest written evidence of their presence is in the form of Chinese and Japanese drawing and literature of the circa 700 B.C. At that time described and used as herbs and cures for many maladies.
* Of the 20,000 orchid species the only one that has any commercial use is the Vanilla. The Vanilla pod is the orchid's fruit dried and steeped in cashew nut oil. The plant clings to trees, has no roots in the ground and derives its sustenance from the air.
* The Royal Horticultural Society takes orchids seriously. An orchid committee examines new hybrids and, by a complex voting system, awards them Preliminary Commendations, Awards Of Merit or First Class Certificates. A painting is made of each plant that receives an award and this is carefully filed in the Orchid Room.
* Most orchids are fertilised by insects who transfer pollen from one flower to another. Many species attract bees and wasps with a delicious tasting nectar. Other species mimic the shape and colour of certain moths who attempt to mate with the flowers. The genus Ophrys even emits the mating smell of the female wasp it mimics.
* When tropical orchids were first brought to Britain they could not be induced to survive for long. This was chiefly due to the practice of heating green-houses by a bricked fire below. This tended to dry out the plants so vast quantities of water were used, usually creating an excessively damp atmosphere said to be like a "Mixture of Turkish bath and a London fog". It was only when cast iron, hot water filled pipes were adopted for heating in the 1850s that the humidity could be controlled.