orchid glossary.
Alba:
White form of a flower.
AM: Award of Merit.
AOS: American Orchid Society.
AERIAL ROOTS:
A type of root produced above or away from the growing media.
ANTHER:
The part of the stamen that contains the pollen; located at the top
of the column.
BACKBULB:
An old sympodial pseudobulb, often without leaves but still alive
and bearing live eyes, behind the actively growing portion of a
sympodial orchid. Can
be used for propagating a new plant.
BASKET:
A container for growing orchids usually made of interlocked strips
of wood. They offer maximum drainage and aeration of the growing
media.
BIFOLIATE:
Having two leaves on a single pseudobulb. When used in reference to
cattleyas it includes plants with two or more leaves.
BIGENERIC:
A hybrid involving two different genera in the parentage.
Bud:
Common term for a flower before it begins enlarging, although it is
also applied to a tiny new growth or leaf.
CALLUS:
A hard thickening or protuberance.
Capsule:
The seedpod of an orchid, often containing thousands, even millions,
of seeds.
Central growing point:
On a monopodial orchid, this is where the upright vegetative growth
will begin.
CHLOROPHYLL:
The green pigment in plants which is essential to the production of
food.
CHROMOSOME:
Any of the microscopic rod-shaped bodies bearing genes.
CITES:
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The
multinational agreement, that lists which plant and animal species
are considered endangered and the rules by which their trade is
governed.
CLONE:
All the various vegetative manifestations (divisions, meristem
propagations, and so forth) of a single orchid plant grown
originally from a single seed; designated by single quotes around
its name. An individual plant and all of its vegetative divisions.
COLUMN:
The organ of an
orchid flower that is made up of both the male (anther) and female
(style) reproductive parts. Usually found atop the lip.
Community pot:
Many tiny seedlings planted together in a single container before
they are individually repotted.
COMPOST:
A term commonly (but
incorrectly) applied to any type of potting media for orchids.
Compot:
Common
- term meaning "community pot."
Cool temperature:
For orchids, a minimum winter night time temperature of 10 to12oc,
with daytime temperatures 5 to 10oc higher.
CREST:
A toothed, fringed, hairy adornment, or callus growth on the lip of
some orchid flowers.
CROCK:
Small pieces of broken pottery or Styrofoam "peanuts" placed in the
bottom of a pot that aid in drainage.
CROSS:
The mating of two different orchid clones, whether varieties,
species or hybrids.
The progeny that results from transferring pollen, from one plant to
the flower of another. The act itself, i.e. making a cross.
CROWN:
The point where leaves grow from on monopodial orchids such as
Phalaenopsis. Usually the V shaped area in the centre of the plant.
CULTIVAR:
In orchids, a specific plant grown from a single seed; designated by
single quotes around its name. An individual plant and all of its
vegetative divisions. A horticultural variety.
Deciduous:
The term used to describe the loss of leaves or other growths upon
maturity or at the end of a growing season, with regrowth after a
dormant rest.
Diploid:
Having a normal number of two sets of chromosomes; also known as 2N.
Division:
Making new plants from old by cutting the rhizome of a sympodial
orchid into pieces containing pseudobulbs and rhizome, e.g. Cattleya
or by cutting off the top half of a stem of a vine like orchid e.g.
Vanda.
Dormancy:
A rest
period during which no vegetative growth occurs, often following a
growth period and/or the loss of leaves or other growths; may
require cooler temperatures and less water, e.g. Dendrobium nobile.
DORSAL:
Refers to the top side of a flower.
Dorsal sepal:
In orchids, the uppermost "petal" of a flower.
EPIPHYTE:
A plant which grows perched upon another plant but
DOES NOT derive
its nourishment from it.
Epiphytic:
Term
used to describe any plant that grows above the ground and attaches
to something else for support; nutrients are not taken from the
supporting host but are derived instead from rain, air, and
available debris.
Equitant:
In orchids, having all the leaves arranged flat in one plane;
specifically refers to a type of Oncidium.
EYE:
A live point from which a new growth can emerge.
FCC:
First Class Certificate. Highest flower award by the RHS Orchid
Committee.
FIR BARK:
A potting media. Chopped or ground bark of the Douglas Fir tree.
Flask:
A clear container used for the laboratory germination of orchid
seeds or for growing other laboratory micro-propagated orchid
seedlings.
Floriferous:
Term used to describe a plant that flowers freely.
Flower spike:
A common term for any of the various types of the more properly
termed flower inflorescence, whether bearing a solitary bloom atop a
single stalk or in racemes or panicles of many flowers.
Footcandle:
A
measure of light useful in determining intensity of light for
growing orchids; the illumination produced by a candle at a distance
of one foot. Another unit commonly used is Lumens.
GENE:
The units in the chromosomes by which hereditary characteristics are
transmitted.
GENUS:
[pl. GENERA] A natural grouping of closely related but distinct
species that are classified together because of similar traits and
an assumed common ancestry; there are over 800 naturally occurring
orchid genera and approx 550 additional manmade intergeneric ones.
GROWTH:
An individual pseudobulb.
Growths:
Any new shoots that emerge, whether they be pseudobulb, rhizome,
leaf, stem, inflorescence, or root.
GREX:
Term used to refer to
the group of progeny of a specific cross. A flock or group, applied
collectively to the progeny of a given cross.
HABIT:
The general
appearance of a plant (whether it's erect, pendant, climbing, weedy,
etc)
HABITAT:
The environment in which a plant normally grows.
HYBRID:
The resulting progeny
from the union of two different species (known as a primary hybrid),
or of a species and a hybrid, or of two hybrids (known as a complex
hybrid).
INFLORESCENCE:
The flower stem with its flowers and buds.
The flowering portion of the orchid, in whatever of the
various general arrangements, such as raceme, panicle, or solitary
scape; often loosely referred to as the "spike."
INTERGENERIC:
The offspring of the
crossing of two plants of different genera. The hybridization that
occurs therein.
Intermediate temperature:
For
orchids, a minimum winter night time temperature of 14 to16oc,
with daytime temperatures 5 to10oc higher.
IOS:
Irish Orchid Society.
KEIKI:
Hawaiian word for baby, applied to an offset from an orchid plant
(Especially Dendrobium and Phalaenopsis). A plantlet that develops
from an orchid flower inflorescence or cane.
LABELLUM:
The lip. A modified petal, usually quite distinct from the other two
petals. The third petal of an orchid flower, modified by evolution
into a lip often used as an attractive landing platform for
pollinators.
Lateral sepal:
Term used to refer to the two lowermost sepals that extend to the
sides, versus the topmost dorsal sepal.
LEAD:
An immature
vegetative growth on a sympodial orchid that will develop into
flower-producing structure.
LEAF SPAN:
The size of a plant, measured from leaf tip to centre of crown to
other leaf tip. Used on Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum and other
monopodial orchids.
LIP:
A modified petal, usually quite distinct from the other two petals.
The labellum. In some genera this is highly modified into a pouch to
aid fertilization in nature e.g. Slipper orchids such as
Paphiopedilum.
Lithophytic:
Term used to describe any plant that grows attached to a rock; a
type of epiphytic life.
Medium:
The
potting material or mix of materials that is being used inside an
orchid pot; the medium may be organic or inorganic. Usually contains
bark, moss, charcoal.
Mericlone:
A generally exact copy of an original orchid plant made via the
laboratory technique of meristem propagation; since it is a specific
cultivar, it is designated by single quotes around its name.
Meristem:
Technically, the actively dividing cell tissue taken from root tips
and from the tips of new growths or floral shoots; sometimes loosely
used to refer to the mericlone plant that is produced from the
laboratory propagation of meristem tissue.
Micro propagation:
Making new orchids by any of the laboratory techniques, including
meristem tissue propagation and sterile seed culture.
MONOFOLIATE:
Having one leaf.
Often used in reference to cattleyas.
Monopodial:
One of the two forms of orchid vegetative growth (the other is
sympodial), wherein a single vegetative shoot grows continually
upward, such as in the central rosette of Phalaenopsis and the more
vine like Vanda.
Multifloral:
Having more than one flower per inflorescence.
Natural hybrid:
A hybrid that occurs in the wild without the help of humans.
Node:
A distinct joint or notch on an inflorescence, stem, or pseudobulb
from which a flower stem, leaves, or roots can emerge; a term often
used to refer to the place on a Phalaenopsis inflorescence above
which a cut can be made to induce a secondary bloom.
Nomenclature:
A
system of naming. Classification of orchid species.
Nonresupinate:
In orchids, those plants whose flower lips are positioned uppermost
relative to the inflorescence axis; the vast majority of orchid
flowers are resupinate.
NOVELTY:
A recent introduction, A seedling or a sport, possessing unexpected
but desirable qualities.
Orchids:
Orchids are members of the Orchidaceae, a family in the
monocotyledons which are major group of the Angiosperms of flowering
plants. At the present state of our knowledge the orchid family
comprises about 35,000 species and 60,000 registered hybrids. With
far more diversity and specialized pollination methods than any
other flowering plant.
OSMUNDA:
A potting media. Chopped roots of Osmunda fern. Much favoured in the
past. very rare nowadays.
OVARY:
The part of the
flower which develops into the fruit.
PANICLE:
A type of flower
inflorescence wherein the flowers are loosely arranged on a
branching stem and open from the lowest or inner branches to the
top.
PEANUTS:
Peanut shaped Styrofoam packing material.
Peloric:
In
orchids, a term used to describe an unusual and often beautiful
(sometimes grotesque) condition where all three petals (instead of
just one) attempt to fashion themselves into lip colours and/or
shapes.
PERLITE:
A potting media. Expanded volcanic rock.
PETAL:
One of the three
inner segments of the flower that are positioned between the three
sepals which isn't modified to form a lip. In orchids, of the three
inner segments, one of the petals is modified into a lip.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS:
The process by which plants convert water and CO2 into sugar, using
sunlight as an energy source.
PISTIL:
The ovule (seed)
bearing organ of a flower (including, when complete, the ovary,
style, and stigma).
Pod:
Term used to refer to the seedpod or capsule.
Pollinia:
Waxy pollen clumps or grains usually found in the anthers of most
orchids; often yellow, distinct, and found under the pollen cap of
the column.
POLLINIUM:
[pl POLLINIA] - The coherent mass of pollen grains found in the
anther.
POLYPLOID:
A term applied to a plant which possesses one or more extra sets of
chromosomes beyond the normal number for that plant.
POUCH:
Replaces the lip in Paphiopedilum alliance plants, it's actually two
petals that have fused.
PSEUDOBULB:
The thickened stem of a sympodial orchid arising from a rhizome
(usually aerial). Used for water and food storage.
RACEME:
An unbranched inflorescence of stalked flowers. A simple type of
flower inflorescence, that looks like a long stem with flowers
arising along it.
Resupinate:
In orchids, those plants whose flower lips are positioned lowermost
relative to the inflorescence axis; the vast majority of orchid
flowers are resupinate.
RHIZOME:
A root bearing,
horizontal stem which progressively sends up leafy shoots. In
orchids, a section of growth connecting two pseudobulbs.
RHS:
Royal Horticultural Society.
SCAPE:
An inflorescence that arises from the base of the pseudobulb. A
simple flower inflorescence that is topped by a solitary flower,
such as in many Paphiopedilum species.
Seed:
Orchid seeds are by far the smallest in the flowering plant kingdom
but to compensate for this, they are produced in vast quantities.
For example, Dactylorhiza maculata each capsule contains about 6,200
seeds. Cymbidium has 1,500,000, Maxillaria about 1,700,000 and
Cattleya up to 5 million seeds per capsule.
Seedling:
An unbloomed young orchid.
Seedpod: The
capsule bearing the seeds of an orchid.
SEMI-ALBA:
A term applied to a white flower with coloured lip.
Semiterrestrial:
Term used to refer to orchids that grow near or on the ground in
extremely loose, open substrate.
SEPAL:
One of the three outer segments of the flower, one of which is
usually topmost and known as the dorsal, the other two lower sepals
being known as the laterals.
SHEATH:
A leaf-like structure that enfolds a stem, pseudobulb, or young
inflorescence.
Sib cross / sibling cross:
Method of seed propagation of an orchid wherein the pollen of 'one
orchid is placed on the stigma of another orchid that was originally
grown in the same seedpod as the first orchid, therefore a cross
pollination of siblings.
Sibling:
An orchid that is related to another orchid by virtue of having been
produced from the same seedpod.
SPECIES:
A natural grouping of individuals which have constant and
distinctive characteristics. A group of living things that appear to
have common ancestry so closely related that their characteristics
definitely separate them all from any other group; a further
division of a genus.
Specimen:
Term usually used to refer to an orchid that has been allowed to
grow to great size and floriferousness instead of being divided;
also refers to the species that typifies a genus.
SPIKE:
Commonly used to refer to a plant that's producing an inflorescence,
i.e. in spike. Term often loosely used to refer to all flower
inflorescences, but technically an unbranched flower stem with short
stalked or stalk less flowers.
SPRAY:
Arching, multi- flowered flowers stem which may or may not branch.
Stalk:
A part of the plant that supports something else.
STAMEN:
The male, pollen bearing organ of a flower.
Stem:
Part of plant on which leaves are borne.
Stem prep:
Loose term for "meristem propagation" or the plant that results from
this technique.
STIGMA:
The part of the pistil which receives the pollen.
STYLE:
The slender part of the pistil, which connects the ovary with the
stigma
SYMPODIAL:
One of the two forms of orchid growth (the other is monopodial),
wherein each new growth arises from the rhizome of a previous
growth, and each new growth is completely capable of bearing an
inflorescence.
Systemic:
Term used to describe pesticides or fungicides that are taken up by
plant leaves and growths and then work from within the plant.
Terete:
Type of orchid growth wherein the stem and/or leaves are circular in
cross section.
TERRESTRIAL:
Growing on the ground, either in soil or leaf litter.
Tetraploid:
Genetic aberration wherein the plant has twice as many chromosome
sets as normal; often resulting in very vigorous, large plants and
flowers.
TEXTURE:
The features of a flowers surface which enhance appearance sparkly,
velvety, etc).
THROAT:
The inner portion of a tubular orchid lip, as in Cattleya.
Tissue culture:
Artificial propagation of plants via laboratory mericloning, also
known as meristemming.
Unifoliate:
Bearing one leaf per growth.
Vandaceous:
Term used to describe any large monopodial orchid, particularly used
for Vanda and its closely related orchids.
Variety:
A subdivision of a species that groups plants with a distinct form
that is passed along to the progeny.
Vegetative propagation:
The creation of additional plants through division, encouragement of
keiki formation, or any various meristem techniques, but not via
seed.
VELAMEN:
The thick corky layer of cells covering the roots of epiphytic
orchids. It serves to protect the roots and also as a rapid water
absorption device.
VIRUS:
A type of infectious
agent, much smaller than common micro organisms, several forms of
which can infect orchids.
Warm temperature:
For orchids, a minimum winter night time temperature of 16 to 18oc,
with daytime temperatures 5 to 10oc higher.
If there are any orchid terms you are unsure about or there is
something I have missed please let me know at
seanmgp "at" eircom.net
