In general, almost all flowers across plant families produce flowers with the same colour/pattern on the abaxial (outer) and adaxial (inside) sides of its sepals and petals.
However, certain orchid species are an exception to this rule, with sepals and petals bearing entirely different coloration on their outer and inside sides.
Post 41 – 21/December/2020
When a leaf is attached (or arises) directly from a cane, stem, rhizome or bulb, the leaf is termed as sessile. To be more precise, a leaf without a stalk (petiole) is called a sessile leaf.
In orchids, sessile-leafed plants are rare in comparison to stalk-leafed plants.
Post 40 – 18/December/2020
Petiole is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the cane, stem or bulb. In many orchid species, the base of the petiole is broad and wholly or partially surrounds the stem. This type of petiole is often referred to as clasping.
This characteristic is found in both epiphytic as well as terrestrial orchids.
Post 39 – 15/December/2020
In many plants, margins of leaves, petals and sepals are wavy in characteristics. This type of wavy margin is termed undulate.
In the family of Orchidaceae also, undulating leaves, petals and sepals are not an uncommon characteristic, but certainly not with the lip. Only a few orchid species have their lip margin undulate. Genus Phaius is an example with a few species possessing undulate lip margin.
Phaius sp.
Post 38 – 12/December/2020
In a few orchid genera, plants produce plantlets asexually. They arise from the nodes and base of the canes and flowering stems. These little new plants are called keikis. This happens because of the accumulation of growth hormones at those points. The word Keiki is Hawaiian, meaning “little one”.
Genera like Dendorbium and Phalaenopsis are famous for producing Keikis.
Post 37 – 09/December/2020
Many orchid flowers are with ridges on its lip, known as lamella. It can be a single one or upto 5 in numbers. Lamellae can be of the same length, shorter or longer, wavy etc. However, most of them are entire in structure, meaning without any hairy outgrowths. However, there are certain orchid flowers that have multiple lamellae that are hairy (fimbriate).
It is believed that this highly developed mechanism has something to do with pollination of the flowers.
Post 36 – 06/December/2020
In extremely rare cases, orchid plants produce flowers with all 3 petals of same size, shape and colour, instead of turning one into the otherwise modified form – the lip. These types of flowers are termed peloric.
Pelorism, the term for the formation of flowers that varies from its normal structure, was first described by Charles Darwin.
Post 35 – 03/December/2020
Spur is an extension of the lip, arising from its base, hence almost in all the cases it is of the same colour of the lip or of a lighter/darker version. However, there are a few species that produce spur with unusually bright colour that is entirely different from that of the colouration of the lip and also of other flower parts.
This is a highly evolutionary method adopted by orchid plants to attract pollinators.
Post 34 – 30/November/2020
An interesting and mostly unnoticed characteristic in orchid plants is the shape of its leaf apex (tip). It varies in shape and size – acuminate to subacuminate, bilobulate, cuspidate, mucronate, obtuse to rounded, tridenticulate, unequally bilobed etc.
The reason behind leaf apices attaining different shapes is a bit unknown and complicated, but the general theory is that the shape and size of leaf apices help leaves drain rainwater efficiently. Rapid removal of water droplets from its leaf surfaces is very important for plants to avoid damage.
Whatever the reason, the shape and size of leaf apices help a lot in identifying several species, while they are not in bloom.
Post 33 – 27/November/2020
Almost all the orchid flowers are zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical), with spreading sepals and petals, irrespective of their size – small or large.
However, genus like Bulbophyllum has few species with dorsally compressed flowers, with its sepals and petals adpressed over each other forming more or less a flattened flower.
Post 32 – 24/November/2020