Quote:
Originally Posted by Roberta
Zindaginha - I think you nailed it with your discovery that orchids are different than everything else... Orchids have evolved in ecological niches where they didn't have to compete for light and space (trunks and branches of trees) and also where they were safe from herbivores. In a tree there is not a consistent source of water - it rains and then it stops and the sun comes out, so they had to evolve mechanisms and structures to conserve water. They also had to manage on very minimal nutrients - like the organic matter from detritus above them that dissolves in rain. One of the ways in which they manage that is to grow slowly. (A tomato plant may grow a foot (1/3 m) a day, where an orchid may add one growth a year... fertilizer requirement is proportional)
Because of the huge variations in those niches that orchids occupy (side of tree, horizontal branches, shade for those below the canopy and sun for those above, etc) speciation is very complex. But if you look at the detail of the environments in which different orchid species grow, their requirements start to make sense.
|
Absolutely! It's a big reason why I'm attracted to them! I grow lithops, carnivores, and Spanish Moss because I am so fascinated by the extreme (purely in my eyes) adaptations. I love the different solutions organisms develop to deal with the challenges they face in the environment: carnivores like orchids evolved in pretty much the same conditions (well, anyway, there are usually orchids where there are carnivores, though obviously not the other way round!), but they employ such different solutions! Sometimes being able to keep such a plant alive and thriving outside of that environment is a matter of luck, but sometimes it requires a lot of effort and observation. Like most people, I killed off a few of the first lithops I got. And then I started to understand them better and they suddenly became super obvious and easy beings to care for (well, there are still challenges here is damp, dark Oregon, of course. I guarantee I haven't killed my last lithops)! Reaching that point (for me, anyway) involved having some really inspiring thoughts about the nature of plants and such. In some ways, this is as much of a reward for "cracking the code" as being able to successfully grow the plants. I look forward to all the new things I will learn from orchids!
Hybrid Mode
