Orchids 101

Orchids attracts enthusiasts worldwide due to their beautiful properties that shout “exotic.”

If you want to learn more on the basics of orchids and how to care for ones, please visit Marc Cohen’s knol, offering comprehensive guide to orchids for beginners.

Marc explained that orchids are of the largest, most diverse, and most ancient families of flowering plants on earth. There are approximately 25,000-30,000 species and 120,000 hybrids of orchids. Once available only to a select view due to their high value, technological advances, such as cloning, have significantly lowered orchids’ prices and made available worldwide – Either to enthusiasts and to budding entrepreneurs.

Here are some basics that can be found in the knol.

Where do orchids grow?

Orchids grow everywhere except in the driest and coldest place. Commonly, orchids originate in tropical rain forests, as most are native to tropical climate. There are some species that are grown in Europe and US with smaller and less colorful than their tropical counterparts – Thus, they are not commonly cultivated.

Orchids’ uses

Orchids are most commonly used as cut flowers, corsages and houseplants. As a business, orchids industry contributes millions of dollars annually. Some countries that have strong orchids industry presence are the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA (especially in Hawaii, California and Florida.)

As delicacies or food products, some orchids do have commercial value. Vanilla is one of the examples – The natural vanilla flavoring comes from vanilla beans, the cured seedpods of the tropical orchid. Another example: In Mediterranean, several species of orchids are used to make salep drink, pudding and even ice cream.

For more on orchids basics, please visit Marc’s orchids knol.