The primary characteristics that distinguish the orchids as a group are found in the flower. At the bottom of an unspecialized non-orchid flower is the stem that supports it, called the pedicel. Directly above, and at the base of the flower itself, is a whorl of green, leaflike organs called sepals. Above and inside the sepals is a second whorl of coloured petals. Together the sepals and petals are called the perianth, which constitute the nonreproductive parts of the flower. The perianth protects the flower or attracts pollinators or both. Inside (also arranged in whorls) are the sexual portions of the flower. First are the pollen-producing stamens in up to several whorls; each stamen consists of an anther on a long slender filament. In the centre of the flower is the female pistil, which consists of an enlarged inferior ovary topped by a stalklike style with a stigma at its apex. The sepals and petals are usually similar, often highly coloured, and in sets of three. One petal is developed as a landing platform for the pollinator and is called the lip (or labellum).
The sexual portions of the orchid flower are quite different from other generalized flowers, and they tend to characterize the family. The filaments, anthers, style, and stigma are reduced in number and are usually fused into a single structure called the column. The majority of the orchids retain only a single anther at the apex of the column.
In the orchid the ovary is composed of three carpels fused so that the only outward evidence of their existence is the three ridges on the outside of the seed pods. The mature seed pod opens down the middle between the lines of juncture. The ovules are arranged along the ridges inside the ovary and do not develop until some time after the flower has been pollinated, thereby contributing to the long delay between pollination and the opening of a ripened pod.
The sepals and petals are usually quite distinct and therefore retain their separate identification. The petal opposite the fertile stamen is called the lip, or labellum. Often two, or even all three, of the sepals are joined, and the lip, petals, or the sepals may be joined to the column for some distance. One of the characteristic differences between the orchid family and other advanced monocots is that the fertile stamen or stamens are on one side of the flower opposite the lip. This makes the flower bilaterally symmetrical.
The lip is oriented upward in the bud, but, as it later develops, the pedicel or ovary twists so that the lip is usually oriented downward by the time the flower opens, a process called resupination.
There are several types of nectaries in the orchids, including extrafloral types that secrete nectar on the outside of the buds or inflorescence (flower cluster) while the flower is developing. Shallow cuplike nectaries at the base of the lip are common. Some nectaries are in long spurs that develop either from the joined sepals or from the base of the lip. Members of the Epidendrum complex have long tubular nectaries embedded in the base of the flower alongside the ovary. Nectaries on the side lobes of the lips are known, and general nectar secretion along the central groove of the lip is common. The nectaries of the Orchidales are present on the sepals or petals, if they are present at all.
In most orchids the anther is a caplike structure at the apex of the column. The anther of some of the more primitive orchids is superficially similar to that of a lily or amaryllis. In Habenaria and its allies the anther projects beyond the apex of the column but is thoroughly attached.
The pollen grains are usually bound together by threads of a clear, sticky substance (viscin) in masses called pollinia. Two basic kinds of pollinia exist: one has soft, mealy packets bound together to a viscin core by viscin threads and is called sectile; the other kind ranges from soft, mealy pollinia, through more compact masses, to hard, waxlike pollinia; the latter usually have some mealy pollen with viscin strands that attach the pollinia to each other or to a viscidium. This portion of the pollinium is called the caudicle.
The stigma, usually a shallow depression on the inner sides of the column, is composed of three stigmatic lobes (as in the typical monocot flower); however, the three lobes are fused together in the orchids. Faint lines often can be seen on the surface of the stigma, indicating its three-part structure.
In the majority of the orchids, a portion of one of the three stigma lobes forms the rostellum, a flap of tissue that projects down in front of the anther separating the stigma and the anther. As the visiting insect backs out of the flower, it brushes the rostellum, which is covered with sticky stigmatic liquid. The pollinia are then picked up from the anther and adhere to the body of the insect. Some primitive species have no rostellum, and the pollinia simply stick to stigmatic liquid that is first smeared on the back of the insect. A further specialization occurs in more advanced orchids in which the caudicles of the pollinia are already attached to the rostellum and a portion of it comes off as a sticky pad called a viscidium. In the most advanced genera a strap of nonsticky tissue from the column connects the pollinia to the viscidium. This band of tissue is called the stipe and should not be confused with the caudicles, which are derived from the anther. Orchids that have a stipe also have caudicles that connect the pollinia to the apex of the stipe. The pollinia, stipe, and viscidium are called the pollinarium.
Orchid seeds are extremely small and contain an undifferentiated embryo that lacks endosperm. A single seed pod produces a large number of small seeds, which are ideally suited for dispersal by wind. Orchid seeds need the presence of a fungus (mycorrhiza) in order to germinate and grow in nature. The fungus apparently penetrates the seed and contributes to the growth of the seedling by producing or supplying some of the necessary nutrients for growth. It has not yet been firmly established whether or not the fungus is necessary for the continued growth of the mature plant, but it appears likely that the presence of the fungus aids in the uptake of nutrients and prevents the leaching of nutrients from the root material of epiphytic species. In some cases the presence of a specific species of fungus is necessary, while in other cases several fungi may have the ability to become involved in the process. It is possible to grow and germinate some orchids without the fungus in artificial cultures that supply the required nutrients.
The majority of the tropical orchid species are epiphytes; nearly all the orchids in the temperate zones, however, are terrestrial.
The predominant and perhaps primitive growth form in a wide range of monocots is sympodial growth, a creeping habit consisting of an axis that appears to be continuous but is actually made up of a succession of elements. Each of these elements originates not from a terminal bud but as a fork of a dichotomy, the other fork being weaker in growth or suppressed entirely. The usual form of a sympodium is a horizontal rootlike stem structure called a rhizome that terminates each “branch.” Most primitive orchids have a rather ordinary monocot appearance with a short rhizome stem and erect, nonthickened annual stems having scattered, spirally arranged leaves and a terminal inflorescence (flower cluster).
Another growth form found in the orchid order is the monopodial habit, in which the stem has unlimited apical growth and the roots are not restricted to its basal portion.
A great many orchids, especially the epiphytes, show variously thickened stems, or “pseudobulbs.” While these structures are quite diverse in form, they fall into a limited number of morphological types and seem to show some evolutionary trends. One of these seeming trends is from pseudobulbs (or corms, bulblike stem structures) of several or many internodes (nodes are stem regions at which leaves attach, internodes are the stem areas between such nodes) to pseudobulbs of a single internode. Thickened stem bases may be found in either terrestrial or epiphytic groups, but pseudobulbs of a single internode are restricted to primarily epiphytic groups.
Saprophytic orchids, those that obtain their food from dead organic matter instead of by photosynthesis, are found in a number of orchid groups. The majority of orchids pass through a saprophytic seedling stage, which may last for months, especially in terrestrial species. Thus, the evolution of a completely saprophytic life cycle in different groups of orchids is not surprising. The adaptations for saprophytism drastically change the vegetative features and occasionally even the reproductive features of the plant, thus obscuring some of the characteristics normally used for determining relationships. The saprophytes are difficult to cultivate and are poorly represented by herbarium specimens.