The orchid family ( Orchidaceae ) is probably one of the most attractive in the world due to its strange and fascinating flowers. We are talking about a group that includes between 25,000 and 30,000 known wild species, which makes it one of the largest plant families. They live all over the planet, with the exception of the polar regions and arid deserts and, although in our latitudes they are usually terrestrial, there are many epiphytic species that live on trees and climbers are also abundant, especially in tropical areas.
The orchid flower is very characteristic and easy to recognize. It presents a symmetry that in botany is called zygomorphic and that refers to having a single plane of symmetry. One of its most characteristic parts is the lip (which means ‘lip’), a modified petal that is found in the middle part of the flower and is distinguished from the rest by its large size. The morphology of this lip is one of the characters used to identify each species of orchid.
Many orchids are known to lack nectar and use visual tricks to trick insects and other pollinators into their flowers. Orchids are well known for adopting the appearance of female bees with such perfection that they get the males to approach them and try to copulate. At the end of their failed breeding attempt, the animals wander away with pollen stuck to their heads. The pollen will fall off when the poor male falls back into the trap and visits a new flower of the same species.
Orchids are such attractive plants that they are grown ornamentally all over the world and hundreds of thousands of artificially selected varieties from wild species have proliferated.
It is very difficult to select a few orchids within this wide family and with the most striking species, however we bring you here a small photographic tour of some of the most curious or paradigmatic. You are sure to discover new things. For example, did you know that vanilla also belongs to the orchid family?
