Orchid in the context of "Lycaste cruenta"

An epiphyte (from Ancient Greek epi-, meaning 'upon', and phutón, meaning 'plant') is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant or plant-like organism such as kelp. It derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. In some cases, a rainforest tree's epiphytes may weigh several tonnes. Epiphytes differ from parasitic plants in that they grow on the host for physical support only, and do not draw nourishment from it. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone (e.g., many mosses, liverworts, lichens, and algae) or in the tropics (e.g., many ferns, cacti, orchids, and bromeliads). Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal water and soil requirements. Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes.

Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunkiær system.The term epiphytic derives from Greek epi- 'upon' and phyton 'plant'. Epiphytic plants are sometimes called "air plants" because they do not root in soil. However, that term is inaccurate, as there are many aquatic species of algae that are epiphytes on other aquatic plants (seaweeds or aquatic angiosperms).

Antonio Musa Brassavola (variously spelled Brasavola or Brasavoli; 16 January 1500 – 6 July 1555) was an Italian physician and one of the most famous of his time. He studied under Niccolò Leoniceno and Giovanni Manardo. He was the friend and physician of Ercole II, the duke of Este. He was also the consulting physician of Kings Francis I, Charles V, Henry VIII and Popes Paul III, Leo X, Clement VIII and Julius III. He performed the first successful tracheotomy, and published an account of it in 1546. He was the chair of philosophy in Ferrara and also studied botany and medicine. A genus of orchid, called Brassavola, is named after him.

A raceme (/reɪˈsiːm, rə-/) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the shoot grows in height, with no predetermined growth limit. Examples of racemes occur on mustard (genus Brassica), radish (genus Raphanus), and orchid (genus Phalaenopsis) plants.

The whiplash or whiplash line is a motif of decorative art and design that was particularly popular in Art Nouveau. It is an asymmetrical, sinuous line, often in an ornamental S-curve, usually inspired by natural forms such as plants and flowers, which suggests dynamism and movement. It took its name from a woven fabric panel "Cyclamen", by the German artist Hermann Obrist (1895) which depicted the stems and roots of the cyclamen plant, which critics dubbed "Coup de Fouet" ('whiplash'). The panel was later reproduced by the textile workshop of the Darmstadt Artists Colony.

Curling whiplash lines were modelled after natural and vegetal forms, particularly the cyclamen, iris, orchid, thistle, mistletoe, holly, water lily, and from the stylized lines of the swan, peacock, dragonfly, and butterfly.

The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain oils and protein. This can make endosperm a source of nutrition in animal diet. For example, wheat endosperm is ground into flour for bread (the rest of the grain is included as well in whole wheat flour), while barley endosperm is the main source of sugars for beer production. Other examples of endosperm that forms the bulk of the edible portion are coconut "meat" and coconut "water", and corn. Some plants, such as certain orchids, lack endosperm in their seeds.

Ancestral flowering plants have seeds with small embryos and abundant endosperm. In some modern flowering plants the embryo occupies most of the seed and the endosperm is non-developed or consumed before the seed matures. In other flowering plant taxa, the Poaceae for example, the endosperm is greatly developed.

Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (V. planifolia).

Vanilla is not autogamous, so pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from which the vanilla spice is obtained. In 1837, Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. The method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old enslaved child who lived on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, discovered that the plant could be hand-pollinated. Hand-pollination allowed global cultivation of the plant. Noted French botanist and plant collector Jean Michel Claude Richard falsely claimed to have discovered the technique three or four years earlier. By the end of the 20th century, Albius was considered the true discoverer.

Pouyannian mimicry is a form of mimicry in plants that deceives an insect into attempting to copulate with a flower. The flower mimics a potential female mate of a male insect, which then serves the plant as a pollinator. The mechanism is named after the French lawyer and amateur botanist Maurice-Alexandre Pouyanne. The resemblance that he noted is visual, but the key stimuli that deceive the pollinator are often chemical and tactile.

In orchids, the resemblance is to a species of bee; Pouyanne observed the bee Dasyscolia ciliata pollinating the orchid Ophrys speculum. The flower uses morphology, coloration, and scent to deceive the pollinator. The chemicals secreted from the flower's osmophore glands are indistinguishable from the insect's pheromones. The pollinator is not rewarded with nectar, and may waste significant amounts of sperm while trying to mate with the flower.

Avaste Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in western Estonia, to largest extent in Pärnu County.

Avaste nature reserve consists of forests, fens, bogs and meadows. It is centred on Avaste fen, one of the largest fens in Estonia. The flora of the nature reserve includes sweet gale, mud sedge and several species of orchid. Several species of rare or threatened birds furthermore have a habitat in the nature reserve. These include black stork, white-backed woodpecker, Eurasian goshawk, short-eared owl, three species of eagle and others.

The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain in the northeastern United States: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens and the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. The name pine barrens refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.

The Pine Barrens remains mostly rural and undisturbed despite its proximity to the sprawling metropolitan cities of Philadelphia and New York City, in the center of the very densely populated Boston-Washington Corridor on the Eastern Seaboard. The heavily traveled Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway traverse sections of the eastern and southern Pine Barrens, respectively. The Pine Barrens territory helps recharge the 17-trillion-U.S.-gallon (64×10^ m) Kirkwood–Cohansey aquifer, containing some of the purest water in the United States.