Orchid Encyclopedia

A jewel orchid with golden net-like patterns covering the leaves, ideal for terrariums.

Japan's atsumori-so, bearing a large red-purple pouched flower at the top of the stem. It grows in grassland and open woods in cold parts of Hokkaido and Honshu and is designated a Specified Class I Nationally Rare Species; plants on sale are artificially propagated.

A small orchid of lawns, banks and other familiar grassland. Tiny pink flowers spiral up a slender spike, the twisted spike giving it its Japanese name. Left- and right-handed spirals occur in roughly equal numbers, and white and other variant forms exist.

A Phragmipedium that grows on wet cliffs and rocks on the eastern slopes of the Andes. It is known for scarlet-red flowers, a colour new to the genus, and drew attention as a breeding parent after its description in 1981.

One of the largest Bulbophyllum species with huge leaves and uniquely scented flowers, popular among collectors.

A small Brachypetalum slipper orchid of limestone rocks. On a short stem it carries one or two rounded cream to pale yellow flowers finely speckled with red-purple, and the flowers have an apple-like scent.

Famous for monkey face-like flowers, a highland orchid requiring cool and humid conditions.

A Brachypetalum slipper orchid whose round white flower, spotted purple, sits just above the leaves, earning it the name egg-in-a-nest orchid. Its dark green leaves are patterned white above and purple beneath, and it grows on limestone.

A tiny Cypripedium that spreads two rounded, heart-shaped leaves horizontally and hangs a flower only 1-2 cm across beneath them. Because the flower sits just above the ground, it is easy to miss without lifting the leaves.

A Cypripedium with two large fan-shaped leaves held opposite each other, between which a large pouched flower faces sideways. The white lip is patterned purple-brown, and it forms large colonies on the floor of bamboo and cedar woods.

A highland orchid with distinctive triangular flowers, preferring cool and humid conditions.

A cool-growing orchid from South American highlands with beautifully patterned flowers on long spikes.

Called the King of Orchids, a large Paphiopedilum with impressive spreading striped flowers.

A Dendrobium with rare violet-blue flowers, darker at the tips and white at the centre. Endemic to mossy Philippine forests at 1,300-2,700 m, it needs cool, moist conditions all year.

A miniature Cattleya under 10 cm tall from the mountain forests of Brazil's Atlantic coast. It bears brilliant scarlet flowers 4-6 cm across, remarkably large for the plant. It was formerly known as Sophronitis coccinea.

A tiny orchid with vivid red flowers, important in Cattleya hybridization.

An unusual summer-flowering Calanthe with spikes of pale purple flowers in July and August, back-curving sepal tips and a finely frilled lip. Sensitive to heat, dryness and viruses, it is hard to keep long-term.

A montane Calanthe whose yellow-green flowers carry a wrinkled, reddish-brown hanging lip, likened to a monkey's face. It grows on the floor of cool mountain forests such as beech woods and dislikes summer heat.

Famous for vivid blue-purple blooms, an epiphytic orchid typically grown hanging with exposed roots.

The quintessential Blue Orchid, with the clearest blue considered the most beautiful in orchids.