Native Orchids

Orchids are found world-wide and belong to the family Orchidaceae which is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, the Asteraceae. Orchids are a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants known for their colourful and fragrant flowers. The Orchidaceae family currently contains about 28,000 accepted species distributed across 763 genera. The world’s richest diversity of orchid genera and species is found in the tropics.

Australia hosts over 1790 orchid species most are unique to this country. About ten new species are discovered each year as botanists study these plants using modern genetic technology. Two-thirds of orchid species are epiphytes and lithophytes mostly growing in tropical areas such as Queensland, NT and northern New South Wales. These orchids grow on trees and rocks. The most commonly known are the Dendrobium and Sarcochilus, however many other species have been identified. Ground dwelling terrestrial orchids make up the final third growing in cooler climates such as Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the south of Western Australia. Hundreds of species of terrestrial orchids have been identified in Australia most are endemic to this country.

Since the introduction of tropical species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars, this includes native Australian orchids. The most commonly known commercially available orchids are Vanda, Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobium. Australia has native Vanda, Phalaenopsis, and Dendrobium orchids. Orchids are easily distinguished from other plants as, the flower of a typical orchid has three sepals and three petals. One petal, called the labellum, “lip” or “tongue”, is quite different from the other two. It usually functions to attract an insect pollinator. As an orchid flower bud develops, the attachment of the lip to the axis of the flower is above that of the other two petals. In many orchid genera, as the flower opens, it twists so that the attachment of the “lip” is below that of the other two petals, the three sepals and the sexual parts of the flower known as the column.

ToDo: Insert orchid flower parts image here.