Varieties and Types of Orchids

There are a hundred, if not thousands of types of orchids in the world and all of them are as beautiful and elegant. Orchid’s range of characters is similar to the uniqueness found in human beings. Color and texture are varied and all take your breath away. Orchids are difficult to classify due to their numerous variety, but we will do the best we can.

Of the many thousand species, we can first classify the orchids as terrestrial and epiphytes. Terrestrial orchids are "earthbound". The nutrients that their roots absorb are from the soil. They use their "below ground" root system. However, there are also orchids that have roots above and below the ground. These orchids are called semi-terrestrial. An example of this type of orchid is the Cymbidium. The Cymbidium can be found on the ground and above trees and rocks.

The other type of orchid is the epiphyte. This refers to orchids that depend on "hosts" in order to survive. This is not a remote occurrence in orchids as many plants other than orchids can also be considered as epiphytes. This type of orchids gets the nutrients from the organic matter that forms between itself and its host or partner. Also these types are quite easy to grow, they do not flower that much.  Read more - article 2