Saturday 17 October 2015

Day 337 - Orsome Orchids

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)
Bee Orchid and dew
Hey everyone today's Day 337 and today I thought I would revisit the things that aren't just one single species. So, in the past I have covered a lot of different types of flowers on my blog such as the Bee Orchid, I've even done a whole post on Spring Flowers, back when it was Spring of course. But today, I'm kind of going back to the Bee Orchid's family. Yes, all of what are named: Orchids. These are one of the most beautiful family of flowers that I know, more so as they're sometimes quite rare.


I've seen a few different types on my nature hunts so I thought it was worth doing a post one them, especially as they are quite colourful on what has been quite a grey day around here.


So, here are the facts:


  • The reason that they are called Orchids is because their latin name is Orchidacea. We have changed it to Orchid.
    Common Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)
  • Now, they are all quite rare but there are so many different types of Orchid in the world. There are 25,000 different types!
  • All of these thousands of Orchid types all have symmetry similar to the human face. If you find an Orchid, it has bilateral symmetry.
  • Orchids have been around for millions of years. Scientists have found fossilised orchid pollen on the back of a bee.
    I found quite a few of these
  • There is actually such a thing called an owl orchid which looks, to me at least, identical to an owl. I saw a picture of it and I thought it was an actual Snowy Owl. They're incredible!
  • Vanilla is actually a species of Orchid. More specifically, the Flat-leaved Vanilla plant.
And Northern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza purpurella)
  • There are so many species of orchid that the smallest one is only the size of a penny/dime...
  • ...On the other side of the spectrum the heaviest one weighs several hundred pounds! That sounds more like a tree!
  • Orchids take years to grow. They first flower after about 5 to 7 years after they germinate.
They are really pretty close up
  • There are some Orchids that only actually flower for a couple of hours, but then again, there are some that flower for years.

Here are some links to some more information:







Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

1 comment:

  1. Amazing finds here Zach, these are stunning flowers! - Tasha

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