Presentation of Orchids

Orchids is the largest family of the flowering plants.Its name is derived from the genus Orchis.
There are over 880 genera, 28,000 species and well over 300,000 registered cultivars currently documented.Orchids are also one of the most adaptable plant groups on earth.Tundra, rainforest, mountain, grassy plain, desert and swamp environments contain numerous orchid species.


Presentation of Orchids

Orchids produce seed pods with literally hundreds of thousands of seed that are released and scattered by the wind. Orchid seeds must establish a symbiotic relationship with a special fungus to survive its first year of life. The fungi gathers water and minerals for itself and the seedling, and the seedling shares its sugars from photosynthesis with the fungus. Only one or two orchid seeds will ever germinate and survive on that perfect crevice or depression that is both moist and has the fungus present. Even then, its chances to survive in the wild long enough to bloom are slim.


Presentation of Orchids

To avoid this problem, greenhouse growers sow orchid seeds on moist, sugar-rich, sterile agar, or they cut out growing clumps of orchid cells and place them on the agar. These techniques allow many hundreds of orchid plants to survive to maturity. New and improved hybrids can be mass produced rapidly. This is important as orchids are very slow growing. Many orchids take five to seven years to mature to flowering. You can see why breeding three or four orchid generations could span a person's lifetime just to get one new hybrid propagated sufficiently for sale.


Presentation of Orchids


Presentation of Orchids