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We have all undoubtedly encountered orchids throughout our lives, whether as an Easter or prom corsage many years ago, as a beautiful blooming gift, or as a daily presence in our gardens here in Southwest Florida. But have you ever stopped to think about the origins of this magnificent plant? With orchids available everywhere, from our local grocer to the neighborhood big box hardware store, it's difficult to imagine the long history behind this beautiful species.
When dinosaurs roamed the earth around 120 million years ago, orchids were among the first flowering plants evolving in the primordial forest. Through the years the orchid family expanded to every part of the world except Antarc-tica, flourishing in bogs, mountains, grasslands, trees, rocks and tropical rainforests. Today there are over 40,000 different species of orchid and more than 350,000 registered hybrids!
How was the orchid capable of such incredible adaptation?
As a species, the orchid has developed extremely versatile methods of reproduction, primarily involving insects. Scent is an obvious and understandable attractor for pollinating insects, but the orchid has also devised methods of trickery and mimicry to accomplish its reproductive goals. The blooms on many orchids are designed to resemble a pollinator's sexual partner, attracting a male pollinator to attempt to mate with the flower, leaving behind pollen collected from other orchids. Some blooms are designed with landing areas which will bring the pollinator into contact with the orchid's pollen which will then be deposited by the pollinator on the next bloom it visits. There are even blooms which have tilting mechanisms which move and adjust the bloom to ensure that a pollinator will brush against pollen as it leans forward on the flower!
There are also blooms such as the slipper orchid that lure insects to drink from their pouch, and some blooms have slippery edges that cause pollinators to fall inside their pouch, distributing pollen as they struggle to climb out. Some blooms even have tiny door-like passages from their pouches that squeeze the pollen from the trapped insect as it crawls through to escape! Other orchids produce long petals that trail downwards to provide a pathway to their blooms since they rely on crawling insects for pollination.
Probably the most famous pollinator was hypothesized by Charles Darwin, who wrote volumes on orchids and their pollination. While studying the Angraecum sesquipedale orchid in Madagascar, Darwin speculated that because of the orchid's heavy evening perfume and long petal spur of up to 12 inches, the pollinator must be a moth with an exceedingly long tongue. Twenty-one years after Darwin's death, the Xanthopan morganii praedicta, or Predicta moth, was discovered; this moth indeed has a very long and specially adapted proboscis that allows it to reach the orchid's nectar.
Orchids do not rely solely on insects for pollination, but also employ hummingbirds, small mammals and even bats to accomplish their reproductive goals. Wind is also an important factor in orchid reproduction; orchids produce masses of tiny seeds, with one pod capable of containing up to 4 million seeds!
Orchid seeds are quite different from most other plant seeds; they are as small as dust and do not contain a natural food reservoir and are unable to convert food sources to sustain their growth. Instead, they rely on a symbiotic relationship with specialized soil fungi, Rhizoctonia, which provide a nutrient supply during the seed germination and development stages. Because of the complexity of orchid reproduction, growers now rely on Meristem or tissue culture for the propagation of orchids, allowing the mass production of these beautiful plants.
The current widespread availability of orchids obscures the rarity of this species in our recent past. Explorers, military personnel and church missionaries first introduced orchids to Europe 250-300 years ago. During the "Orchid Mania" experienced in the mid-19th century, Victorian "orchid hunters" scoured the earth for plants and devastated many natural habitats without regard for conservation. This was a hobby for the wealthy, as few people could afford the exorbitant prices orchids commanded at auctions or the “stove houses” required to maintain these plants.
With some knowledge of the history of orchids, don't you agree that we are indeed fortunate that science has provided a method to mass produce these beautiful and resilient plants? The next time you see an orchid in bloom, pause for a moment to reflect on the availability and affordability of this magical, beautiful survivor. We can now enjoy the privilege of possessing these regal plants that was once afforded only to royalty!
Cathy Dunn is a Lee County Master Gardener Volunteer and Garden Club of Cape Coral member.