Service Growing Orchids Paul A. Thomas, Extension Horticulturist-Floriculture Orchids belong to the most diverse family of plants known to man. These numbers only begin to tell the true story behind the evolutionary success of modern day orchids.
Orchids are also one of the most adaptable plant groups on earth.
Some Australian orchids grow entirely underground, and many tropical jungle orchids grow in the upper branches of trees. Tundra, rainforest, mountain, grassy plain, desert and swamp environments contain numerous orchid species. Orchids produce seed pods with literally hundreds of thousands of seed that are released and scattered by the wind. Orchid seeds must establish a symbiotic relationship with a special fungus to survive its first year of life. The fungi gathers water and minerals for itself and the seedling, and the seedling shares its sugars from photosynthesis with the fungus.