Rainbow Orchid

Orchidaceae (Orchids) is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known... more

by Allen Beatty

Title

Rainbow Orchid

Artist

Allen Beatty

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

Orchidaceae (Orchids) is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species, found in 880 genera. Selecting which of the two families is larger is still under debate, as concrete numbers on such enormous families are constantly in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family also encompasses about 11% of all seed plants. The largest genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species), Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).

Uploaded

April 20th, 2014