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The history of orchids dates back centuries, and it has been an incredibly popular flower since it was first introduced. Today, it's popularity hasn't decreased, and people are finding more and more ways to enjoy this beautiful flower.
The 17th to 18th Centuries
Hailing from the Mediterranean Region, the Orchis is among the most well-known and earliest orchid genera. The ancient Greek name ὄρχις or Orchis loosely refers to testicles in reference to the dual tubers you find on these orchids.
The Orchis genus was occasionally believed to have important medicinal properties, but the only orchid in this genus to have large economic value is Vanilla planifolia due to it being an important source of vanilla flavoring. The Aztecs used this orchid genus for several uses, and the Spanish adopted it after they conquered Mexico and it spread across Europe.
At the start of the 18th century, people started to bring epiphytic orchids from the West Indies and China to Britain. This resulted in around fifteen different orchid species growing in the Royal Botanic Garden in Great Britain, but this wasn't largely considered to be a success due to the fact that they only thrived in hot, humid greenhouses and nowhere else. This trend continued until the start of the 19th century.
The 19th Century
The 19th century brought improved growing techniques to the orchid species, and in turn, orchids became popular among the upper classes. Collectors were sent out to the orchid's native habitats to collect different species and send them back to Great Britain.
However, they were too eager, and this resulted in several orchid species being destroyed completely. Additionally, hundreds of tropical orchids died en route back to Great Britain due to novice packing techniques and inept handling. This resulted in the surviving orchids having prices that skyrocketed which led to the belief that orchids were only fit for the upper classes.
These two things resulted in the destruction of many orchid species, but habitat destruction was a bigger threat to the tropical orchids. As people were expanding outward, they were destroying forests and clearing land, and this led to a dropping orchid population. This resulted in several countries taking steps to preserve their native orchids to export to other countries, and this continues today.
The Introduction of Hybrid Orchid Species
As the demand for orchids grew among all of the social classes, people began experimenting with creating orchid hybrids. By crossbreeding native species, it increased the overall availability of orchids as a whole.
This really took off during the mid-19th century when horticulturists discovered that they could easily crossbreed orchid species that were known for not forming hybrid species in their native habitats. This resulted in the horticulturists crossing orchid genera to create dozens of hybrid orchids. This practice continues today, and there are now more than 100,000 orchid species available.
William Cattley was a British horticulturist that specialized in growing and maintaining traditional tropical orchids. He is also credited with being a driving force when it comes to orchid hybridization. He received a shipment of orchids from South America and crossed them with other hybrids. In 1818, one of his orchids successfully bloomed, and this created a buying frenzy.
This plant caught John Lindley's attention, who was and still is considered to be one of the best orchid taxonomists that ever lived. He named this orchid Cattleya labiata in honor of William Cattley, and the Cattleya genus was born.
The Evolution of Orchid Growing
During William Cattley's life, it became very popular for the rich and high-society class to have large greenhouses installed on their land. It was very easy to keep the greenhouse temperatures at tropical levels because these greenhouses were fed steam from pipes that ran from coal heated broilers. One servant was assigned the job of keeping the fire hot and stoking it each night.
Eventually, this led to the name of stove houses, and they were initially a very good environment to grow tropical plants, including orchids. It was rumored that several orchids did survive, but most got sick, weak, and died within several months. This started to change as the people who collected the orchids starting letting the general public know more specific orchid keeping conditions.
In response to this new information, people gradually took their orchids out of the stove house environments and placed them in more favorable growing conditions that allowed for more air flow and light, but that had less heat. They were also given potting medium, and this allowed the orchids to start growing and thrive. As orchids became more available, more people started to gain an interest in growing and maintaining them.
The 20th Century
When orchids grow in their native habitats, they have a very close relationship to fungus, and it is better known as mycorrhiza. Orchid seeds won't germinate unless the process is kick-started by a fungus infection. This has proved to be a very difficult point for growers since people started seriously trying to grow orchids centuries ago.
When you combine the need for a fungus to start the orchid's germination process with their tiny dust-like seeds, it makes sense that early growers would have a very difficult time growing orchids from seeds. However, this all changed in the early 20th century with two European scientists.
Burgeff and Bernard were the two scientists who first started seriously working toward solving the problem of germinating orchids from seeds. They started experimenting with using a sterile medium and fungus to germinate orchids from seed. They were successful, but the process was extremely involved and technical, so it didn't allow mass production of orchids for the general population.
This changed when Joseph Charlesworth took Burgeff and Bernard's techniques processes, and by 1909, he was germinating and growing thousands of orchids in Sussex. At this time, he was also successfully crossbreeding orchid species, and he changed the history of orchids and allowed them to become available for more mainstream purchase.
This continued with a rapid increase of the available orchids for common gardeners to purchase and grow. This trend continued until the 1960s when the introduction of a new growing technique dropped the price of orchids drastically, even the more sought-after species.
Growers began using orchid tissue cultures to grow their orchids, and this increased the availability of thousands of species across the world. These orchids were commonly called mericlones. Mericlones are not traditionally expensive, and this increased their attraction level to novice and veteran growers alike.
Today, there are thousands of extremely popular orchids available, and they come in several difficulty levels in regards to growing and maintaining them. There are also dozens of new hybrids available each year, and they come in a broad range of gorgeous colors.
Orchid Quick Facts
The Orchidaceae plant family is huge, and it contains over 28,000 orchid species. Orchids set themselves apart from a variety of other plants as they pack their pollen into bundles and attach them to pollinating insects. Additionally, orchids are generally divided into two groups or genera called Miltoniopsis and Phalaenopsis, and these are hybridized together to create thousands of different orchid species.
Today, orchids are a favorite for both beginner and veteran horticulturists alike. Their wide availability and versatility make them very popular plants, and they can create a stunning show when they bloom as well as being very fragrant.
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