Walk into a garden center and you'll find a dazzling array of orchids—from delicate white petals to bold purple blooms. But what actually qualifies a plant as an orchid? It's not just the pretty flowers. There are specific botanical characteristics that unite over 25,000 orchid species into one fascinating plant family. The telltale flower structure The most defining feature of an orchid is its flower. All orchids have a specialized structure with three sepals and three petals. But here's what makes them unique: one of those petals is radically different...
Read more...