Author(s): Dr Mark Clements

HOME AND GARDEN

For many lovers of flowers, orchids have a particular allure. Popular among gardeners, florists and nature lovers, orchids come in a huge array of shapes, sizes, and colours, and have some of the most intriguing names of any flower speciesFlying Duck, Beard, Fire and Boat-lip Orchids or, Doubletails, Fairy Bells, Parsons Bands and Greenhoods. Some spend their whole lives underground while others grow high in trees. And they are the tricksters of the flower world, many mimicking the forms and smells of female insects and spiders to sexually deceive their male counterparts into pollinating the flower.