Do you love Orchids? We’ve got some trivia and little-known Facts about these exquisite flowers that will make you Love Them Even More!
With thousands of species and new ones continuously discovered, Orchidaceae is the world’s most diverse plant family! Found all over earth except glaciers, let’s explore these lesser-known orchid facts that will make you fall deeper in love with them!
Orchid Facts That Will Make You Love You Even More!
1. Everywhere except in Antarctica
Orchids are successful because they can grow in many places. They are found almost everywhere except Antarctica, some deserts, and a few remote islands. Orchids have adapted to live in all kinds of environments, including cold tundras, tropical rainforests, swamps, mountains, and even dry, desert-like arid areas.
2. Second-Largest Flowering Plant Family
There are about 28,000 known types of orchids, making them the second-largest plant family after daisies (Asteraceae). Scientists believe there may be even more orchid species in rainforests that haven’t been discovered yet.
Around 125,000 orchid hybrids have been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society, with over 15,000 new ones added each year. This happens so quickly because orchids don’t have barriers between different types, allowing them to crossbreed freely and emerge as new ones.
3. They Have Dust-like Seeds
Their seeds are as tiny as dust and don’t have any stored food. Instead, they need fungi to help them grow by taking nutrients from them. One orchid seedpod can hold up to 3 million seeds.
4. Vanilla is Made from Orchids
The next time you eat vanilla-flavored ice cream, you’ll remember that vanilla comes from orchids. Vanilla beans are seed pods from orchids in the Vanilla genus, including Vanilla planifolia (or Flat-Leaved Vanilla) and V. x tahitensis (a hybrid).
5. Have Both Medicinal and Traditional Uses
Yes, you heard it right. Many orchids, especially those in the genus Dendrobium, are the active ingredient in age-related pathologies. These medicinal aspects are quite famous in parts of Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Europe, and Africa.
6. Tricksters for Pollination
Orchids attract pollinators in different ways. Many use nectar, but they also rely on color, shape, and scent and even look like other flowers.
Color is important for daytime pollinators. Orchids pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies often have red, orange, or pink tube-shaped flowers, but they may not have a scent. Some have yellow spots that look like pollen from other plants, tricking pollinators into visiting even though they don’t offer nectar.
Moths, which are active at night, are drawn to green or white orchids with strong scents that only appear after dark.
Some orchids, like Bulbophyllum species, attract flies and carrion beetles with brown or dark red flowers that smell like rotting meat. One species, Bulbophyllum beccarii, is said to smell as bad as “a herd of dead elephants.”
7. They Came in Existence Before any Plant
It is believed that orchids populated the earth along with Dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurus, during the Mesozoic era, so orchids were on earth before any other modern plant.
8. Orchids Look Like Animals
Orchids are one of the few plants with balanced shapes. Like an animal’s face, if you draw a line down the middle, both sides will look the same. See orchids that look like animals in this post to understand more.
9. Aerial Roots of Some Orchids Can Photosynthesis
About 70% of orchids are epiphytes, meaning they grow on tree trunks and branches instead of in the ground. Since they don’t touch the soil, they get all their moisture from the air. Their roots have a special spongy coating called velamen, which helps absorb rain and humidity.
These roots are usually green and can perform photosynthesis. Some orchids, like Taeniophyllum species, have adapted so well to this that they no longer need leaves and do all their photosynthesis through their roots.
10. Orchids Adjusted to the Conditions in the Rainforest
Orchids can adapt to their environment. In the Amazon Rainforest, orchids have long, thin leaves that help them soak up moisture from the air. In dry places, orchids have thick, waxy leaves to hold onto water.
Orchids can grow in different ways—they might grow in the ground, underground, or on the sides of trees—whatever helps them survive best.
11. Popular Houseplant
The Moth Orchid (Phalaenopsis species and hybrids) is the most popular houseplant orchid in the world. It has become even more popular than Christmas plants like the poinsettia, and its sales keep growing yearly.
12. Only Orchid have Underground Flowers in the World
Orchids can grow in different places—some attach to trees (epiphytic), some grow on rocks (lithophytic), and some even live entirely underground.
In Australia, three out of four critically endangered underground orchids (Rhizanthella) spend their whole lives underground, including when they bloom.
Scientists still don’t know exactly how they are pollinated, except for one species, the western underground orchid (Rhizanthella gardneri), which is the only plant known to be pollinated by termites. Interesting, isn’t it?
