Orchid Types

With over 25,000 orchid types, the orchid family is the largest family of flowers in the world. Because of this, orchids can be divided after many criteria, like the way they grow, based on their sub-families, regarding their stem and roots or after the ideal temperature needed for them to grow in normal conditions.

Considering the way orchids grow, they can be divided in two big orchid types: terrestrial orchids and Epiphytic. Terrestrial orchids grow on the ground and are rhizomatous or form corms or tubers, having the root caps smooth and white. They are mainly found in grasslands and forests. Epiphytic species grow anchored to trees or shrubs in the tropics or subtropics, having modified aerial roots that can sometimes be a few meters long. But there are also lithophytes orchids that grow on rocks.

Orchids can also be divided accordingly to their taxonomy. The orchid species has 5 sub-families: Apostasioideae, Cypripedioideae, Epidendroideae, Orchidoideae and Vanilloideae. While Apostasioideae is the smallest subfamily with just 15 orchid species, Epidendroideae is by far the biggest with over 20,000 species, containing some of the most well known orchids such as Vanda, Dendrobium or Cymbidium. From a genetic perspective, the last three can be considered sisters. While Vanilloideae can be found in humid tropical and subtropical regions from Eastern North America, Cypripedioideae can be found in temperate regions of the world, as well as tropical America and Tropical Asia. Apostasioideae is found only in south-western Asia. The last 2 subfamilies, being also the biggest, can be found anywhere except Antarctica.

All orchids are perennial herbs and can grow according to two patterns. They can be Monopodial, where the stem grows from a single bud, leaves are added from the apex each year and the stem grows longer accordingly, and Sympodial where the plant produces a series of adjacent shoots which grow to a certain size, bloom and then stop growing, to be then replaced.

Because orchids can be found on six different continents, in various climatic conditions, they can also be divided in three categories accordingly to the ambient they are used to live in. There are orchids used to cold environments as Cymbidiums, Masdevalias or Odotoglossums that grow at temperature between 53°F - 75°F (12°C -24°C) in daytime. There are also orchids that grow well at temperatures between 59°F-75°F (15°C - 24°C). Here we find orchids as Cattleya or Oncidiums. Last but not least we have an orchid category used to warm temperatures near 84°F (29°C) like Phalenopsis or Vanda.

There are many ways to categorize orchid types, without one general rule for dividing them, but these are the most well known ways to distinguish them.

By: Alan Stables

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Alan Stables is a keen gardener, and one of his specialities is caring for orchids. Given optimum environment conditions depending on the various orchid types , the correct orchid food and the correct amount of sunlight and water, you too will be able to grow beautiful orchids in no time