[edit] Uses

Further information: Vanilla

Vanilla fruits drying

One orchid genus, Vanilla, is commercially important, used as a foodstuff flavouring.

The underground tubers of terrestrial orchids (mainly Orchis mascula' or Early Purple Orchid) are ground to a powder and used for cooking, such as in the hot beverage salep or the so-called "fox-testicle ice cream" salepi dondurma.

The scent of orchids is frequently analysed by perfumists (using Gas-liquid chromatography) to identify potential fragrance chemicals.

The other important use of orchids is their cultivation for the enjoyment of the flowers. Most cultivated orchids are tropical or subtropical, but quite a few which grow in colder climates can be found on the market. Temperate species available at nurseries include Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid), Gymnadenia conopsea (Fragrant Orchid), Anacamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid) and Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common Spotted Orchid).

Orchids of all types have also often been sought by collectors of both species and hybrids. As such many hundreds of societies and clubs worldwide have been established. These can be small local clubs like Sutherland Shire Orchid Society or larger national organisations like American Orchid Society. Both serve to encourage cultivation and collection of orchids, but some go further by concentrating on conservation or research.

The term botanical orchid loosely denotes those small flowered tropical orchids belonging to several genera (not necessarily related to each other) that don't fit into the "Florist" orchid category. A few of these genera contain enormous numbers of species. Some, such as Pleurothallis and Bulbophyllum, contain approximately 1700 and 2000 species, respectively, and are often extremely vegetatively diverse. The primary use of the term is among orchid hobbyists wishing to describe unusual species they grow, though it is also used to distinguish naturally occurring orchid species from horticulturally created hybrids.

Cultivated Phalaenopsis lindenii

A few of the most common orchids found in "casual" culture are:

The National Orchid Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens is considered by some to be among the finest collections of orchids in cultivation open to the public.^{[citation needed]}

Orchids, like tulips, have become a major market throughout the world. Buyers now bid hundreds of dollars on new hybrids or improved ones. Because of their apparent ease in hybridization, they are now becoming one of the most popular cut-flowers on the market.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Genera

Main article: List of Orchidaceae genera

The following are amongst the most notable genera in the very large orchid family.

Aa; Abdominea; Acampe; Acanthephippium; Aceratorchis; Acianthus; Acineta; Acrorchis; Ada; Aerangis; Aeranthes; Aerides; Aganisia; Agrostophyllum; Amitostigma; Anacamptis; Ancistrochilus; Angraecum; Anguloa; Ansellia; Aorchis; Aplectrum; Arethusa; Armodorum; Ascocenda; Ascocentrum; Ascoglossum; Australorchis; Auxopus; Baptistonia; Barbrodia; Barkeria; Barlia; Bartholina; Beloglottis; Biermannia; Bletilla; Brassavola; Brassia; Bulbophyllum; Calypso; Catasetum; Cattleya; Cirrhopetalum; Cleisostoma; Clowesia; Coelogyne; Coryanthes; Cymbidium; Cyrtopodium; Cypripedium; Dactylorhiza; Dendrobium; Disa; Dracula; Encyclia; Epidendrum; Epipactis; Eria; Eulophia; Gongora; Goodyera; Grammatophyllum; Gymnadenia; Habenaria; Herschelia; Laelia; Lepanthes; Liparis; Ludisia; Lycaste; Masdevallia; Maxillaria; Meliorchis, Mexipedium; Miltonia; Mormodes; Odontoglossum; Oncidium; Ophrys; Orchis; Paphiopedilum; Paraphalaenopsis; Peristeria; Phaius; Phalaenopsis; Pholidota; Phragmipedium; Platanthera; Pleione; Pleurothallis; Promenaea; Pterostylis; Renanthera; Renantherella; Restrepia; Restrepiella; Rhynchostylis; Roezliella; Saccolabium; Sarcochilus; Satyrium; Selenipedium; Serapias; Sophronitis; Spiranthes; Stanhopea; Stelis; Thrixspermum; Trias; Trichocentrum; Trichoglottis; Vanda; Vanilla; Zeuxine; Zygopetalum.

[edit] Image gallery

Corallorhyza maculata, a myco-heterotroph	Cephalanthera longifolia, a terrestrial orchid	Leaves of different species of orchids	Habenaria radiata. Note the lip
Pterostylis coccinea, a highly specialized shape	Neuwiedia griffithii, Apostasioideae. Note the three normal stamens.	Cypripedium acaule has two stamens. One can be seen from the picture, the other is on the other side	Ophrys insectifera
Catasetum fimbriatum. The seta is evident.	Holcoglossum kimballianum	Spiranthes spiralis	Vanilla plant (the climber)
Bulbophyllum putidum	Cattleya intermedia	Cultivated Epidendrum ciliare	racula_vampira.jpg" title="Dracula vampira.jpg"> Dracula vampira
Rossioglossum grande	Listera ovata, a less showy orchid	Vanda tricolor var. suavis	Oncidium papilio
Cambria	Phalaenopsis hybrid	Orchids at a flower show in Tatton Park, Cheshire, England, 24 July 2008	Renanthera storei

[edit] See also

• Moyobamba, known as the 'City of Orchids', which has some 3,500 species of orchid native to the area
• The Orchid Thief, a non-fiction book written by Susan Orlean
• Adaptation., a movie based on the Susan Orlean book The Orchid Thief
• Nero Wolfe, a fictional detective and orchidophile
• Orchidelirium the Victorian era of flower madness in which collecting and discovering Orchid reached extraordinarily levels.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• Arditti, J. 1992. Fundamentals of orchid biology. John Wiley and Sons, New York. ISBN 0471549061.
• Batygina, T. B., Bragina, E. A., and Vasilyeva, E. 2003. The reproductive system and germination in orchids. Acta Biol. Cracov. ser. Bot. 45: 21–34.
• Berg Pana, H. 2005. Handbuch der Orchideen-Namen. Dictionary of Orchid Names. Dizionario dei nomi delle orchidee. Ulmer, Stuttgart.
• Judd, Walter S., Christopher S. Campbell, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Peter F. Stevens, Michael J. Donoghue: Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach, Sinauer Associates Inc. 2007. ISBN 0878934073.
• Kreutz, C. A. J. 2004. Kompendium der Europaischen Orchideen. Catalogue of European Orchids. Kreutz Publishers, Landgraaf, Netherlands
• Ramírez, S., et al. Nature 448, 1042–1045 (2007).
• D. Lee Taylor and Thomas D. Bruns: Ectomycorrhizal mutualism by two nonphotosynthetic orchids; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA; Vol. 94, pp. 4510–4515, April 1997 (on line).
• Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 7, May 2006 [and more or less continuously updated since]. [1]
• Strasburger, Noll, Schenck, Schimper: Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen. 4. Auflage, Gustav Fischer, Jena 1900, p. 459.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Orchidaceae

• Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) International Orchid Register (with search capability)
• Orchids of Brazil
• Orchidaceae of Chile, by Chileflora