The Oncidium orchid is also known as the golden shower orchid, and in some areas people also refer to the Oncidium orchid as the Dancing Lady Orchid because the Oncidium orchid flowers resemble dancing ladies. This is an extraordinarily large and diverse New World genus with an equally diverse number of habitats. Oncidium orchids occur naturally throughout the American Tropics from Florida to Argentina. This obviously makes cultural generalizations difficult. If […]
The genus Miltoniopsis was established by Godefroy-Lebeuf in 1889 in honor of Fitzwilliam and Milton. The Miltoniopsis orchids are intermediate climate orchids. This means that they can be warm-growing orchids as well as cooler-growing orchids. Although the Miltonia orchids and Miltoniopsis orchids are similar, the distinction between the two is made by referring to the Miltonia orchids as the warmer-growing orchids which come from Brazil, and the Miltoniopsis orchids as the cooler-growing orchids which come from Columbia, Ecuador and Peru. It is easy […]
The Miltonia orchids are intermediate climate orchids. These orchids are found in its natural habitat in places like Brazil and to a lesser extent in Columbia and Ecuador as well where the Miltoniopsis orchid tends to thrive since they are slightly cooler-growing orchids. The everyday name of the Miltonia orchids is the Pansy Orchids. This is due to the Miltonia orchid flower resembling the Violas of Pansies as they are fondly known as. These […]
Orchid Life Cycle Orchids are one of the most interesting plants with the most fascinating life cycle, which is similar to most flowering plants but with a number of twists. They have, for example, developed odd pollination strategies with some orchids producing the pheromones of female wasps to attract the male wasps who then pollinate the flowers! Some orchids […]
Orchidaceae (the orchid family) is the largest family of flowering plants with more than 25,000 species, with more and more new orchid plants are being discovered continually, though about 3,000 of the species are under taxonomic dispute. It is also the oldest type of flowering plant on earth and makes up about 6–11% of all seed plants. The largest […]
Cultivation Disa uniflora orchids make a good companion to Cymbidium orchids and Odontoglossum orchids. The Disa uniflora orchid species are relatively new to the orchid cultivation scene and are indigenous to the Western Cape in South Africa. Disa uniflora has small orchid flowers, but the stems can reach 1 meter (that is 3.3 feet) in height. The colors of the Disa uniflora orchid flower of the Disa uniflora hybrids which […]
Dendrobium orchids and their hybrids form the second largest group of orchids after the Bulbophyllum orchids. There is way over 1,500 species of Dendrobium orchids in this group and thousands more types of orchid hybrids in the Dendrobium orchid group; and they are well dispersed all over the world. Nowadays it is not uncommon to find a Dendrobium orchid growing in India, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, […]
In 1737 Carl Linnaeus used the word Cypripedium to describe the European orchid species. The word Cyprus (the island Cyprus) originated from the name Cypripedium. Carl Linnaeus also used the word pedilum, which meant shoe or slipper, to describe other species. Cypripedium orchids occur naturally in the Far East, but these days it is cultivated almost anywhere in the world. There were also some […]
Cymbidium Orchid Cultivation Cymbidium orchid species are not widely cultivated, but hybrids of Cymbidium orchids lend themselves to cultivation. They make excellent pot plants and cut flowers and as such the Cymbidium orchids (both the species and the hybrids) are very popular. Incidentally their flowering period coincides with the Winter Christmas season in the Northern hemisphere. These Cymbidium orchids make great gifts […]
Classification of orchids There are certain rules that apply when naming any type of plant, including orchid plants. Most plants are named using just a genus name and a species name as per the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), but in the case of orchids, there are more rules that have to be heeded since […]