Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (/ɔːrkəˈdeɪʃiː/), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants. The Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera.[2][3] The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, because verified data on the members of such enormous families are continually in flux. Regardless, the number of orchid species is nearly equal to the number of bony fishes, more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species.
Here are some fun facts about these popular plants.
- Orchids are one of the oldest family of flowering plants. …
- Orchids are the largest family of flowering plants. …
- The smallest orchid is the size of a dime. …
- Orchid flowers are symmetrical. …
- The vanilla bean comes from a species of Orchid.
