Orchidaceae
	Genera : 750 -1000 Species: 18, 000 - 20,000

Link to genus pages

Aplectrum Calopogonm Calypso bulbosa Cattleya Corallorhiza Cypripedium Dendrobium Epidendrum

Goodyera Leochilus Malaxis Mexicoa_ghiesbreghtiana Octomeria Odontoglossum Oncidium Phaius X gravesiae

Phalaenopsis Platanth Pogoniaera Psygmorchis_pusilla Spiranthes Tricopilia

Distribution: World wide, but most abundant in New World tropical forests.

Economic Uses: As the source of vanilla, but otherwise cultivated as ornamentals.

Defining Features of Interest: The family is divided into three subfamilies and is easily distiguished by the unique and often bizarre variation in floral morphology.

Fossil Evidence: No known fossil record.

Defining Morphology

Floral Features : Strongly zygomorphic and perfect (rarely unisexual). Epigynous. Inflorescence a solitary flower, or in panicles, racemes or spikes. Floral organs with specialized forms such as; the 'labellum' (or lip) as the median petal with a nectar appendage, the stamens fused into a column, the pollen fused into a waxy 'pollinia', which is often hidden beneath an appendage of the stigma termed the 'rostellum'.

Fruit and Seed Features : Fruit a capsule. Seeds tiny and numerous and endosperm lacking. Placentation is axile or parietal.

Vegetative Features : Habit as perennial, terrestrial or epiphytic herbs. Sometimes saprophytic in symbiotic association with a fungus. Leaves simple, entire, alternate or basal (rarely opposite or whorled). Usually fleshy and sheathed at the base.

Links to Genus Directory of Images:

• Link to an Jeff Hapeman's Orchids of Wisconsin Page