Orchids

Orchids (scientific name: Orchidaceae) are a family of monocotyledonous plants that are distinguished by the complexity of their flowers and their ecological interactions with pollinators and fungi with mycorrhizal.

The family comprises approximately 25,000 (some sources report 30,000) species, and perhaps another 60,000 hybrids and varieties produced by horticulturists, making it one of the families with highest species richness among angiosperms.

They can be recognized by their flowers of strong bilateral symmetry, in which the middle parts of the inner whorl of tepals (called the lip) are profoundly modified. The stamens and carpels are fused, at least in the base.

Orchids are an extremely diverse group of plants that can be from a few millimeters long, as are some species of the genera Bulbophyllum and Platystele, to gigantic aggregations of several hundred kilograms of weight, as are some species of Grammatophyllum, to file lengths to 13.4 m, as is the case Sobralia altissima, an orchid described in 1999 in Peru.

Similarly, the flowers of orchids vary in size from less than 1 mm and hardly visible to the naked eye (Platystele), to the great flowering orchids of 15 to 20 cm in diameter, such as in many species of the genera Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium and Cattleya, to the 76 cm round flowers of Phragmipedium caudatum.

The fragrance of the flowers is no less variable, ranging from the delicate scent of Cattleya to the repulsive smell of the flowers of some species of Bulbophyllum.

Orchids are found in most of the world, but are especially abundant in the tropics. Their adaptability, however, has allowed them to conquer a host of ecological niches, from the dry and warm areas of the planet to those that are more humid and cold as, literally, they are distributed from the Polar Regions to Ecuador.

The family has been recognized by the classical systems of classification of plants (such as the Cronquist system), as well as by the more modern (like the APG II classification system).