Each type of orchid is dependent on a particular pollinating agent. The orchids use variety of tricks to insure pollination. Some of them attract pollinating agents with the help of fragrance or scent of food.

While the others manage to fool the male insects, by imitating the ‘female insect look’ or appearance. Because of this, future of the orchids growing in the wild, depends heavily on conservation of the entire ecosystem.

Extinction of a species of insect or bird, may mean extinction of the orchid depending on it. The following are some interesting facts about orchids:

• The orchids have a unique identification signature, in the form of a structure, which harbors its male and female reproductive organs. This structure is referred to as ‘column’.
• Orchid flowers are famous for their colors and one can find every imaginable color and shade in orchids.
• Some of the orchids have sweet fragrance, while few others, smell like stinking or rotting meat.
• Orchid flowers come in varying sizes. The flowers of Platystele stenostachya are small enough to fit on the head of a nail. On the other hand, those of Cattleya gigas orchid are eight to eleven inches across.
• The giant in the orchid family is Renanthera storei. It can grow to a height of 20 feet.
• An orchid can live as long as 100 years, whilst the orchid flowers can last for few weeks. However, the blossoms wilt quickly, after fertilization.
• There are very few species of the orchid family that can be used as food or to obtain medicine from it. In China, some of the orchid types are used as aphrodisiacs.
• In tropics, different types of orchids are found in the cloud forests in mountainous regions, while they are less in numbers, at lower elevations, in the rain forests.
• Orchids from the temperate areas, like Indiana, grow on the ground. On the other hand, orchids in the tropics, grow on trees or rocks.
• The orchids are not parasites; but use decaying organic matter collected on the bark of trees or in fissures of rocks for their nourishment.
• In the past, the roots of the orchids found in Europe, were used as aphrodisiacs.
• The main commercial source of natural vanilla, is an orchid named as Vanilla planifolia.
• Orchid blooms are used in Asian recipes as ingredients, and in Hawaii, they are used to dress the food and drinks.
• The male bowerbirds of New Guinea are known to present orchid flowers to female bowerbirds, in an attempt to win their heart.

Orchids are loved for their colors, sizes, shapes and are maintained as potted houseplants in flower gardens or greenhouses.

In spite of the many varieties of orchids, these delicate, exotic plants, the world over, are being threatened with extinction. Though, 42 different orchid types are found in Indiana, many of them are endangered for one or the other reason.