What Makes an Orchid an Orchid?

Orchids, with their breathtakingly beautiful blossoms, head turning fragrances, and sometimes exotic foliage create an exquisite experience for the orchid hobbyist. They display such a enormous variety of flowers, are found in all parts of the world, grow in some very different habitats — in trees, on rocks and in the ground that it is difficult to imagine that they belong to one family of plants.

What, exactly, makes an orchid an orchid? Beautiful flowers can be seen on hundreds of plants; other plants have unique fragrances. Many more plants have stranger foliage and yet others have even more unusual ways of surviving. The answer actually lies in the construction of the flowers: the column of the orchid and the fact that the orchid’s colorful flower parts appear in threes.

The most distinctive quality of an orchid flower is that its male and female parts are fused together in the very center of the flower to form a unique organ called the column. Another special quality of orchids is that their most prominent flower parts appear in threes: three petals and three sepals with the column in the center of it all.

In summary, all orchids are defined by their flowers. To check if what you have growing is an orchid, just look for the flower petals and sepals and the column inside.

Luscious Lips

If you look closely at most orchids, you will notice that one of their petals, usually the petal closest to the ground, often is more flamboyantly colored and larger than the other petals of the flower.

Specialized Roots

Another feature of orchids is the construction of their roots. Epiphytic orchids (those growing in trees) are characterized by their free-hanging roots that dangle in the air. These orchids are usually found lodged in the crotches of trees where their thick spongy roots adhere to the bark and absorb nutrients and moisture. Orchids with these types of roots can also usually be found on lithophytic orchids (those growing on or in rocks). Terrestrial orchids (those growing on the ground) have thick hairy roots that are adapted to deriving water and nutrients from organic matter in the soil or the surface leaf litter.