Orchids are prized for their unusual flowers. It is impossible to choose the most beautiful orchid, since it changes according to its habitat. The beauty of forest orchids is modest and inconspicuous, while the beauty of tropical ones is extravagant. But in any case, the orchid strikes with the shape of the flower.
Even among the 5-6 species of the most popular orchid hybrids intended for home cultivation, choosing the most beautiful is not easy. But what if there are about 30 thousand species in the wild and scientists still continue to find new ones. It is incredible that such a finicky home, the wild orchid is common in the tropics and northern Siberia. It cannot exist only in Antarctica.
Orchids of northern latitudes
Paying tribute to justice, you should arrange a "casting" separately among giant orchids, dwarf and even subsoil species. Indeed, even the smallest Platystele orchid from Central and North America, whose flower is no larger than a pinhead, has an unusual beauty. If you take a closer look at its flower, it resembles a sparkling golden-red star.
Naturally, the modest beauty of vegetation in cold regions cannot compete with Asian species. And yet she is much nicer to someone. It's just that sometimes, stepping over a flowering plant with a height of 10-20 cm, not everyone realizes that this is a wild orchid in all its glory.
It must be said that it is more and more difficult to meet representatives of the orchid family in Russian forests. No wonder they are listed in the Red Book: spotted orchis and night violet. Popularly they are better known as "cuckoo's tears" and "two-leaved lyubka". Small forest flowers, concentrated on the top of the stem, prove their belonging to the elite genus of orchids by the presence of a “lip”. Only in the orchis it is three-lobed, and in the Lyubka it is whole.
The Venus slipper, which is common from the British Isles to the Pacific Ocean, has an enviable frost resistance. It got its name for a swollen "lip" decorated with red spots or stripes. In comparison with the above-described cold-resistant representatives, it is perhaps the most beautiful. Moreover, his flowers are much larger. The calypso bulbosa orchid in a delicate pink-lilac color is also incredibly beautiful. Her homeland is Ural.
Southern beauties
And yet, if it comes to the beauty of orchids, then tropical species immediately appear, which served as the beginning of the cultivation of cultivated hybrids. Here they amaze with a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. However, connoisseurs of the beauty of orchids rarely manage to get a wild specimen that has really beautiful flowering. Most of them, unfortunately, are disappearing. Scientists explain this fact by changes in the habitat. The person also contributes.
One of the most beautiful, exotic and endangered species is the spider orchid found in the state of Victoria. Do not be surprised at the name, since all orchids resemble birds, butterflies, spiders, and lizards in flower shape. In some species, the "lip" is very similar to a little male man. It is an Italian variety that can be found on the island of Crete as well as in Armenia.
In the tropical zone of India, Indonesia, southern China, the Philippines and Australia, the large Vanda orchid grows, which can rightfully be considered the queen of the wild species. It reaches a meter in height, and large flowers are collected in one inflorescence. Although the flower itself does not differ in an exotic form, it is striking in a variety of colors.
However, it will hardly be possible to name the most beautiful orchid, because in the humid tropics of Australia, America, Europe, you can find epiphytic orchids with beautiful flowers, the roots of which hang from tree branches. And in the swamp area of Florida, an amazing flower-shaped ghost orchid grows. The Japanese habenaria, whose flower resembles the flight of an egret, will also take on the beauty.
