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If you're new to orchid care, then you might be wondering how to identify the orchids you have
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So in this video, I'm not going to do a care guide for each orchid because that would be too extensive
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What I am going to do, I am going to go through some of the most specific types of orchids that are sold
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and give you an overall idea of what to expect for each orchid
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Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching this video at Orchidaria
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In this video we're going to go over five different types of orchids
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Phalanopsis, catellia, dendrobrium, unsidium, and papyopetolum. So let's start with the most common, which is the phalanopsis orchid or the moth orchid
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This is a moth orchid and it's commonly sold in grocery stores
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It's commonly sold in flower shops for Mother's Day, for Valentine's Day, graduation presents
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It's what goes out first. And it's so common because it's easy to grow indoors
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Phelanopsis orchids got their name because phalaim means moth and opsis means appearing to be
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The flowers look like an open moth that was flying by in a rainforest near this orchid
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And so that is how the name got associated to this orchid
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You can find these orchids growing naturally in Malaysia, Indochina, Philippines, Australia, Borneo
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and generally all of Southeast Asia. But we can grow them indoors
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How to identify a phalanopsis orchid? Now a phalanopsis orchid will have a main stem in the middle and from there it will branch out one leaf to the left, one leaf to the right
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And they will grow straight up. This flower spike on a phalanopsis will not emerge from the center
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That's what's going to make it different from a pathoedalum. It's going to emerge from the side
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Now if you look here, you can see the flower spike is emerging
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emerging from the side of the stem, on this side too. It's emerging from the side
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If a flower spike emerges from the center and it still has these kind of flowers
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then what you have is a terminal spike on your phalanopsis. Phelanopsis orchids will have aerial roots and some other plants that have this kind of leaf formation will not Now this one that I have right here does not have aerial roots but if you look at this huge
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phalanopsis here and right there it's a little aerial root that is popping out of the pot
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Here's the main stem of the orchid and one leaf to the left, one leaf to the right
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Now this is an adult phalanopsis, but there are many. mini phelinopsis also, which are adults in their complete size
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This is also an adult felonopsis. It's just a mini, and this is the only size that it grows
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So don't be confused about the size. Look at the difference. I mean, look at that
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And the flower spectres goes all the way over to the end of the video
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The second group of orchids are the cattlia orchids. Now this is a catelea orchid and as you can tell there is not one central stem
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There are several stems and this is what I was talking about aerial roots here
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This is a great example. Catlia orchids will have one horizontal rhizome and from there there's going to be different
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pseudobulps that sprout up from the rhizome. So it is a busier plant and it grows horizontally, not vertically
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The flowers, you can tell, does not grow in one flower spike with a lot of different flowers
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It will have one spike with one flower on each of these bulbs that are producing, that are in active growth
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Here is another catelea. Calias can come in all sizes. They can come in miniature, too
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For the longest time, the catelea orchid was produced for corsages, and they were the number one cellars
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an fallin orchid. They stay in bloom for about three to four weeks, but the phalanopsis
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orchid will stay in bloom from the beginning or blossom all the way down to the last blossom
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on the spike that can be up to three months. So that is why the phalanopsis got a head start
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on being the number one produced orchid in the world. Catlias can come with one pseudobulb
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and one leaf which is called unifoliate or one suitor bulb and branch out in two leaves
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which is called bifoliate. Now this doesn't make them any different. They are still
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cateleus. They just are a different kind of cateleus. Our third orchid is the dendrobium
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orchid. Now I have two here that are very different. This is a smaller, shorter one. And you
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can see it grows from a rhizome and has different little canes all the way around. The
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cane is another word for a suitable And you can always tell a dendrobium because their leaves are longer than they are wider Here is another dendrobium And look at the difference See dendrobiums
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there are more than 1,200 types of dendrobiums. These are just two. So you can see how different
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the care is in each one of these. A dendrobium orchid you can tell easily because after this
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flowers, all these leaves are going to fall off. And this is going to be the ugliest little
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orchid you've ever bought. And you're going to want to throw it in the trash. Please don't. It's just
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going through a dormancy cycle. And on the dormancy cycle, it needs to save as much energy as it can
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so it can produce on that next year a beautiful flower. So if you get an orchid with this
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dust has these ugly little canes, take your time, relax. When all the leaves fall on, you
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you know just go slow your dendrobium will come back to life later now to
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differentiate a dendrobium from a phalanopsis first you'll notice the stem doesn't stay short it's always going to be a little longer even though there is
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one leaf to the left one leaf to the right one leaf to the left one leap to the right space in between the leaves are extensively longer on the stem and this is for
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both types of phalanopsis it's always one leaf to the left to the left, one leaf to the right. And this one's in bloom. Isn't that cute? Oh, it's just so
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that's what I love about orchids. They're so varied. They're so different from each other
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which makes their care also very different. Don't put all dendrobium orchids in the same category
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Some are epithites and they'll grow on trees. Others are terrestrial and will grow in a potting
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mix that resembles a leaf litter. So you need to really research your dendrobrium and find out more about it
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Our fourth group of orchids are the oncidiums. Now at the time of this video, I don't have an
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oncidium with me, but oncidiums are extremely beautiful orchids. They're called dancing ladies
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and that is because they will blossom and on each blossom they'll have multiple flowers that cascade down
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Onsydiums get this name because their lip or labellum, which is this part of the orchid, this one petal, as I can call it, is extremely enlarged
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This swelling is called oncos, which is also where we get our word oncology because of the swelling of the cancer
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cells It can be mainly yellow or red and they have a beautiful fragrance The most famous on cyium is not yellow but it famous for its smell because it has a chocolate smell to it and it is just so enticing called an
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onsydium sherry baby. The fifth group of orchids are called the pathopetulums. Now pathopetolums are commonly called the
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lady slipper orchids but lady slippers also include phragmopediums and other kites of orchids too. I don't have a
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a pathopelum, but I do have a fragment of pietam, and it's not in bloom
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But you can tell the size of this thing. I mean, it's huge, and it does have one to the left, one to the right, but the stem is closer
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and they are terrestrial orchids. They grow in the soil. These you can commonly find around United States in wetlands and wooded forest
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The pathopetalum gets its name because of the distinct flower. This part of the lip again, the lip is what mostly identifies orchids when they're in bloom
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The lip of the pathopetalum will steep down and then it will circle back up to form like a slipper or a moccasin
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The name around the lady slipper orchids is extremely rich in culture because it is about an Indian girl whose tribe gets plagued by a
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disease and so she has to leave her tribe and she travels through these horrible
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adventures to try to get a a cure for this disease when she finds it she
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travels back but she loses her slippers on the way but it's in the dead of
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winter so her feet start to bleed out and wherever she stepped on that trail
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trying to find the cure would grow out a pathopalum which the Indians would call a moccasin. We took the moccasin and just called them lady slippers
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And from that reason on, it's called lady slippers. But they are not only pathopelms. Lady
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slipper orchids do also include phragmopedians and a lot of others. So you will distinctly tell
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those kind of orchids through that cup of the lip. If you like this video and you want more
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information, please hit the like and subscribe button. watching videos and researching information because that makes the most difference in caring
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for your orchid. Now you can watch this video about life cycle and what different phases your orchid will
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go to or you can watch this longer video that talks about orchid anatomy and terminology
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And since it is a longer video, I will prize you with a downloadable PDF at the end of
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the video where you can download all the terms of orchid care and orchid anatomy
