Orchid economic importance

Traditionally, various peoples have used orchids for ornamental and medicinal purposes.  The Chinese were the first to grow them, from about 500 BC.  Later, in the fifth century, the Greeks used orchids as medicinal plants.

In America, the Aztecs used them as medicinal plants, spices, food and ornaments.

One of these was the popular Vanilla (”tlilxochitl” in the Nahuatl language), the scientific name being Vanilla planifolia.  Vanilla was used to flavor chocolate, and was brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadors in the early sixteenth century, and from there to tropical regions such as Madagascar.  This country has become the world’s leading producer of this spice, used as flavoring locally and throughout the world.

Despite the great diversity of the family, few orchids are grown for any reason other than the beauty of its flowers. Besides the above-mentioned vanilla cultivation, to produce vanillin, a few species are used for the production of flavors of tea (Jumellea) and snuff (Vanilla).  In Turkey, Anacamptis morio tubers are used for the preparation of a typical Turkish beverage, a hot drink for the cold days of winter known as salep.

The cultivation of orchids for the beauty of its flowers slowly evolved from a simple hobby to commercial exploitation.  The ornamental orchids first reached Europe from the New World in 1731.  It was not until 1821, however, that commercial cultivation of orchids in greenhouses began near London.  In 1913, the company called Sun Kee was launched in Singapore to produce and sell cut orchid flowers.

Currently, in the United States, Britain, France, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, Hawaii and Singapore, there has been a widening interest in cultivation and exploitation of orchids, with two objectives.

The first is the production of cut flowers to supply the international market for floriculture.  The second objective is to produce and market plants of different sizes, particularly those that are near flowering, and ornamental plants to supply the domestic market of each country.

Thailand is one of the most specialized in the production of orchid flowers; its goal is to meet the demand in major cities around the world, with exports totaling $40 million for the year 2001.
Among the most common orchids grown for cut flowers or ornamental plants are Cattleya, Dendrobium, Epidendrum, Paphiopedilum, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, Brassia, Cymbidium, Laelia, Miltonia, Oncidium, Encyclia, and Coelogyne. However, the highest proportions of current cultivars of orchids (those that are counted more than 100,000) have emerged through artificial hybridization between two or more species, often from different genera.