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Orchid Facts: Adaptations in Roots, Leaves, and Blossoms
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Oct 3, 2024
In this more informational video, I'll talk about curious facts about how orchids adapted to their environments and habitats to survive. Orchid adaptations to their environments are inspiring and ingenious. Originally from the swamps and savanna grasslands, most epiphyte orchid seeds traveled through the air and nestled into the nicks and crannies of trees of hardier, nearby forests. To survive so far above the ground and without soil, orchids had to adapt. Orchids adapted by transforming their roots, leaves, seeds, and pollination methods to better grow. These adaptations allowed orchids to capture, process, and store nutrients. Orchid roots adapted to maximize the absorption of humidity, minerals, and micronutrients. Orchid leaves absorb condensation droplets falling from above them, rich with airborne debris and compost. Their stems and seeds altered due to the environment, providing a new way to survive. This video takes you through the steps in that process. If you want the full explanation of this video, please go to https://orchideria.com/orchid-adaptations/ On the website at Orchideria.com, you'll have all the access to our information, tutorials, guides, and much more... all for free! Happy Cultivating! --x-- TIMESTAMPS --x-- 0:00 Introduction 1:17 Leaves 2:07 Psedobulbs 4:57 Roots 7:32 Seeds 9:43 Flower/Blossoms
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Orchids are not just common to one continent or one habitat
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Over thousands and thousands and thousands of years they have adapted to grow in almost
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every continent in the earth and adapted to almost all climates including desert climates
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So in this video you're going to learn about how the orchid adapted, what it did to change
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to better adapt to that climate and that circumstance. Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidaria
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So we're going to learn how the orchids adapted, what they had to do to go through this process of adapting to their environment
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Now, the orchid actually adapted in every single part of its life so that it could live and could live
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survive. So first let's take an example of an orchid that has adapted. If you're wondering
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what this is, this is just so I can measure the level of humidity inside the pot. So it is
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unsightly, unruly, but it works. So the first thing that orchids have adapted to, you know
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we can start with their leaf. The leaf on orchids that live in a drier climate, a climate
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where it doesn't rain that often or rainfall is harder to come by
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They have adapted to create thicker leaves. Now if you notice an orchid that lives in a heavy rainfall environment
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the reefs are probably going to be thinner and longer. And if you even notice, an orchid's leaves are hydropelant
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in the sense that if you water, then water will just trickle off
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The back side of the leaf is what absorbs the water and absorbs the nutrients and has the stomata
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which will provide the gas exchange. The second thing is if your orchid has a pseudobul, now mine are all tied up with this cute little wire here
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that's just to keep them more upright and not growing out all over the place
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The pseudobulb is going to show you also that this orchid probably lives in a climate
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where not all year round it will have resources to live on
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During part of that year it's probably not going to rain or during part of that year the nutrients aren't going to be most adequate for its life
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The pseudobul will go dormant for a while. And to go dormant, you have to have energy
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It's kind of like a bear that's going to go hibernate. You need to stock up on food So you have a suitable A pseudobulb is just a thicker cane on dendrobiums They called canes actually They a thicker part of the orchid that you will notice are sometimes wrinkled sometimes smooth depending sometimes around depending on the type of the orchid you have
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And it's just a storage compartment. Now this helps the orchid adapt to its environment. For example, the catacium orchids
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So in this orchid, the pseudul bulb is going to store all those nutrients during that time of dormancy
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Now, in Brazil, when I live there in the capital, it would rain for six months straight, and then it would be dry for six months straight
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This pseudo bulb is going to store that energy for the dry season because it's not going to have a drop of rain for like three months straight
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So it needs that extra storage compartment to keep it healthy during this drought season
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The size of the pseudobul is going to show you what kind of environment it lives in
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Now phalynopsis orchids do not have a suitable. That's because in their environment, it's not only because of this, but in their environment, they get rain and nutrients and sun every single day
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of their lives. They don't need to store anything. They have it plentiful, which makes them a
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monopodial orchid. A monopodial orchid does not have a rhizome, does not have suitobulbs
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A monopodial orchid will have one stem that will grow vertically up and then branch out as compared
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to sympodial orchids like Catellius who will grow outwards with a rhizome. And they need that extra
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storage. So that's just one way that the orchids adapted to their climate, you know, just
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growing pseudobulbs, just providing for that time of when there's going to be lack in nutrients
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The third way that orchids adapted is through their root system. When the orchid realized that it
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wasn't going to live in the grasslands or the savannas or the swamps or it wasn't going to be
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terrestrial and it had to attach itself to a tree, it knew that the orchid was
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the roots we're going to have to adapt to their new environment
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Now there's no soil up in the tree when they attach themselves to a tree
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So they have to project, find a way to increase the absorption of nutrients
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So that's why they grow aerial roots. Now these roots not only do they capture the nutrients that are in the air, the water droplets
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and everything else that is floating around, these orchid roots also photosynthesize, which
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makes them so different than household plants That why we need the clear plastic pots Because if you can provide a clear pot and that light just penetrates that pot that giving them more
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energy. That's just supplying more energy to them so that they can live better. One thing
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about orchid roots, they do not only absorb nutrients, they do not only absorb water
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they do not only photosynthesize, they also perform gas exchange. That is what we are. We do not only absorb
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So why it is so important that in your potting media, there is room for air to travel
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We think they're like household plants and we just sock that soil down inside so compact that
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the roots don't have any space to provide that gas exchange. And that is what causes root rot
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We tend to think it's because it's overwatering. That contributes. But the main reason is because those roots don't have air around them to perform the gas exchange
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And that gas builds up to a toxic level inside the root and the root dies
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Then the root death causes bacteria, which calls fungus, which calls root rod, which, and then we think, oh, it's because we overwatered
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No, it's because we pack the potting media in there so hard that there was no
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room for to provide air to it. It has to be firm. I mean, if your orchid is wiggly in the pot
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it's not going to feel secure. It has to be firm, but it has to be, provide that air underneath
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it so that the roots can breathe. The fourth adaptation when it comes to orchids are the seeds
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To get to the top of the trees, and I'm talking top is about the top third, they had to travel on
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wind currents. Now to travel, you have to be extremely light. So they had to get rid of this extra
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baggage. And this baggage, the only thing they could get rid of is their nutrient supply, which is
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called the layer of endosperm. So the endosperm is what provides all the nutrients. If you cut a
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bean seed in half, you will see that the actual seed is very, very tiny. Around it is all that
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layer of endosperm and that's what that's just nutrients it just provides nutrients for the sea to grow
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until it's mature enough to sprout out roots and to grow by itself well the orchid sea doesn't have
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this because it has to be light it has to travel on that wind current to get to the top third
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of the tree well it travels up to the tree once it gets to the tree and gets lodged in between the
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bark in between the what do you call it the grooves in the bark there is going to come into contact with a fungus And this fungus is extremely important And it going to provide the nutrients all the nutrients the orchids so it can first grow roots and attach itself to that bark
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It's going to provide everything that this little orchid needs to make it for the first years
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of its life. So the seeds had to adapt to get to where they were going and lodge and come into
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contact with this fungus. Now the odds of that happening are extremely low. That's why the
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orchid produces thousands of seeds. I mean literally thousands because you know 10 or 20 are
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going to make it. The rest are going to be lodged in the cement. They're just going to be
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lodged in places that just don't promote growth. And they're going to be lodged in places
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where that fungus is not present. Now before I talk about the adaptations that the flower made
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do me a favor and please hit that like or subscribe button. So one of the adaptations that the
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orchid goes through is in its blossom. We think it blossoms like this because it likes to show off
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or it to please us, but that has nothing to do with it. The blossoms are uniquely and only to attract
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pollinators. So if the pollinator likes flowers that have certain colors or certain sense
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the orchid will bloom with these colors. Now orchids attract specific pollinators. If their pollinator is a
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moth that only comes out at night, that's exactly what the lady of the night Brasavola
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orchid does because the pollinator is a moth that only flies at night. Why are they going to stay
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open during the day? That's why they produce this wonderful sense. at night and not during the day as much
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Their whole pollination cycle, the way the orchid adapts, and this part of the lip on the
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orchid, it's a landing platform so that the insect can land on here and crawl up to get
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that pollen. Everything about the whole flower just adapted to make that so much attractive to the pollinator
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The adaptations that the orchid goes through with its leaves, with its pseudobulbs, with
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its roots, with its flowers are incredibly amazing. But if you want to go in depth with this and learn the orchid care and the terminology and
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the anatomy of every single part of the orchid, go to this video up here, which is going
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to talk about the anatomy and terminology of orchid care. And in this video down here I'm going to talk about kikis and why they come
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why they develop what they're there for. Thank you for watching this video and happy cultivating
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