Orchidaceae

Orchid Family

By: George Rogers

Orchids make up the largest family of flowering plants, with over 800 genera and roughly 30,000 species. Herbaceous, primarily tropical, and usually epiphytic, orchids are found in most climates and can be terrestrial too. The roots of epiphytic species are often surrounded by an absorptive, spongy velamen layer, and may be photosynthetic. The stems of many epiphytic species are modified into thick, cactus-like pseudobulbs. The flowers have 3 sepals and 3 petals, one of the petals modified into a labellum. In most orchids the stamens and pistil are fused into a column, this having a stigmatic cavity near the summit, and the pollen hidden under a cap at the summit. The pollen grains are usually fused into masses called pollinia. The seeds are microscopic and extremely numerous.

Key to Orchids Used in South Florida Landscaping

Note:  Many species are cultivated locally as greenhouse and house plants, or outdoors as epiphytes. Those in this manual are planted in-ground as landscape plants.

1. Plants 3’ tall; flowers 5” in diameter, pink-white-brown…Nun’s Orchid (Phaius tankervilleae)

1. Plants 2’ tall; leaves plicate; flowers 2” diam., purplish (or white or yellow in related species and hybrids)…Ground Orchid (Spathoglottis plicata)

Other plants included in the manual:

Zeuxine strateumatica