Orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants, living in diverse habitats on every continent except Antarctica. The world's richest diversity of orchid genera and species is in the tropics. Many species are epiphytes, living on trees. The flowers and their pollination mechanisms are highly specialized, attracting insect pollinators by colour, pattern, scent, pheromones, and sometimes by mimicking female insects. Orchids have very small seeds, relying on fungal partners for germination. Some orchids have no leaves, either photosynthesizing with their roots or relying entirely on fungal partners for food.
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Research Mentions
Phenylalanine 15N enrichment likely indicates fungal-derived organi...
Orchids in your garden or local woodland may be quietly extracting sugars from soil fungi rather ...
A global bioregionalisation for orchids.
If you've ever tried to grow an orchid and watched it sulk, knowing it evolved in a distinct clim...
Differences in orchid mycorrhizal diversity between terrestrial and...
If you've ever struggled to keep an epiphytic orchid alive indoors, the answer may lie in the inv...