In ancient times, poets appreciated the orchid. They composed verses and songs in honor of the tender beauty. Orchids are mysterious, which is associated with their healing power. About varieties of orchids, their names and about flowers similar to them, read the article.
Orchid-like flowers
In nature, a huge number of genera and plant species grow with and without flowers. Many plants from the same family are similar in appearance to each other. But it also happens that plants similar to the species belong to different families. Examples of some of them are presented below in the article.
Schizanthus
This name bears a flower similar to an orchid, but not having any relation to an orchid plant. Schizanthus belongs to the nightshade family. His closest relatives are tomatoes and potatoes. The flower is so beautiful that it is grown everywhere: on flower beds in the garden and in home or office rooms.
A flower similar to an orchid, whose name is schisanthus, loves bright areas, warmed by the rays of the sun. In shaded areas, the plant also blooms, but not so luxuriantly. Decorativeness drops sharply.
The flower loves loose fertile soils, therefore, before planting a plant in the soil, it should be fertilized with humus. For a home flower, you can use an earthen mixture with good drainage.
Dracula
An orchid-like flower belongs to the orchid family. It has one hundred twenty-three species, many of which are beautifully flowering representatives of their species and can grow indoors: in a room, office, or greenhouse. The name of the flower received for its similarity with the dragon's face. These flowers are also called the son of a dragon, a little dragon, a little dragon.
The natural growing conditions are high wooded slopes, areas with adverse weather conditions, where it always rains, there is a low temperature, low light level and high humidity.
Night violets
These flowers, similar to small orchids, belong to a completely different family. Violet is similar to cymbidium - a flower from the orchid family. She is called the Matron's Vespers, just an Vespers. This plant with a widely developed stem grows up to one meter in height. In inflorescence inflorescences, small flowers with four petals of a white or purple hue are collected. There are violets with double flowers.
The flowering period begins in late May and lasts a whole month. It always blooms actively, with the exception of dry periods. An orchid-like flower is very beautiful. Therefore, it is used to decorate parks and gardens.
Bearded iris
This flower looks like an orchid, although it belongs to the genus of irises. The lower petals are decorated with a strip of villi of a contrasting color, similar to a wedge-shaped beard, like the French. In some irises, the upper petals also have a beard.
The beard iris flower, like all rhizome plants, prefers a lot of light, moderate watering and fertile soil with good drainage. He does not like rainy weather, dampness and high humidity.
Fancy flowers
In nature, there are a lot of beautiful flowers from which it is impossible to look away. But there are plants with unusual flowers resembling living things or magical images. Of course, the imagination of all people is different. But look at such flowers, from whatever side, their image does not change. Particularly striking in its unusual form of orchids. Some of them are presented below:
- An angel is an orchid-like flower with white flowers. The plant has eight hundred species. The place of growth is all continents, with the exception of cold Antarctica.
- Flying duck - an exact copy of the duck figure in flight. The beak, wings, body are clearly delineated, as if specially machined. This orchid is from Australia.
- Spider - the shape of an orchid flower performs an adaptive function, attracts wasps for pollination. They attack the flower, catch pollen on their paws and transfer it to other plants.
- Dove (Holy Spirit) - the peoples of the whole world associate the flowering of this orchid with a prosperous period in life. White flowers seem to be made of wax, they look like a dove.
- Hot lips are unusual flowers with a bract of bright red color. Looks like a woman’s lips painted with lipstick. This form of flower is necessary for the plant to attract pollinators.
Monopodial type of growth
Plants are characterized by vertical growth, during which the size of the new leaf will always be larger. Over time, the newly formed and previous leaves will become the same size. An example of this type of orchid is phalaenopsis, vanda and others.
- Phalaenopsis - this plant in the wild reaches a height of two meters, in the room its size is much smaller. Standard plants - up to one meter, dwarf - up to thirty centimeters. The flower has many varieties and hybrids. The plant has powerful peduncles, numbering forty corollas. The flowers are like moths.
- Wanda - this plant belongs to the monopodial type of orchids. In the natural environment it grows on the plains and in the mountain forests of southern countries, including China in the east. Cut flowers have the unique property of not fading for a long time, making the plant considered a popular crop for cutting in southern Asia. A variation of this flower is Wanda Blue. Place of growth - India and Thailand, Burma and China. It features a strong erect stem without leaves at the base. The height of the plant ranges from sixty to eighty centimeters. The arrangement of leaves is two-row, opposite. They have a dark green color and an unusual shape in the form of two unequal blades. The leaves are stiff, located only at the apex. Their length reaches eighteen centimeters, and the width is up to three. Inflorescences thirty to sixty centimeters long are lateral. They have up to twenty large flowers of a blue tint, their diameter is nine centimeters. Flowering time - autumn (from August) and winter (to December).
Sympodial type of growth
Plants differ in the location of the rhizome. In such orchids, it is horizontal, and is called a rhizome. Sympodial varieties include such types of indoor orchids as Cattleya, Miltonia, Cymbidium, Cumbria.
- Miltonia - This plant has many varieties and hybrids. Miltonia is able to interbreed, growing in the open. By way of life, it belongs to epiphytic plants, which are characterized by the presence of small succulent pseudobulb and lanceolate leaves. The structure of orchid flowers and viola garden corollas is similar. Shape and color are different. Florists appreciate an orchid for bright and frequent flowering, several times a year.
- Cumbria - this flower is unpretentious, so many flower growers grow it indoors. Cumbria orchid is a hybrid with powerful thickened shoots. Pseudobulbs are very juicy, leaves are long. The advantage of the plant are star-shaped flowers. The lower petal has a contrasting pattern.
Indoor orchids
The structure of orchids that are grown indoors is not much different from flowering plants of other species. But orchids have their own characteristics. Some species of flower have false bulbs, they are called pseudobulbs. They were originally formed from wild flowers and performed protective functions from natural conditions in unfavorable places of growth.
At home, this function of pseudobulbs is significantly reduced. But the bulb is not a useless part of the plant. With its help, the nutrients that are necessary for the development of the plant are distributed.
Orchid roots have a special property. They are divided into basic and subordinate, the place of formation of which are the stems and shoots. This structure is due to the fact that in the wild the roots needed to absorb a lot of nutrients, and additional means for this in the form of stems and shoots were not superfluous.
Leaves are a peculiar mechanism of adaptation to environmental conditions. So, indoor photophilous varieties of orchids are endowed with thickened leaves of saturated color. In shade-loving flowers, the color of the leaves is light.
In many varieties of indoor orchids, seeds do not have the ability to germinate in ordinary soil due to their small size and lack of endosperm inside them, which prevents nutrients from entering the soil from inside the seed. To germinate, it is recommended to use agar-agar.
Ludisia
This is the most unusual indoor plant. It affects not the beauty of the flowers, but the decorative nature of the pointed leaves of an ovoid shape, the surface of which is decorated with bizarre shapes. The veins are green, yellow or pink, depending on the variety. The orchid is small in size, fifteen to seventeen centimeters in height.
Cymbidium
This is a tall plant. It reaches a height of two meters, growing on the street. For growing indoors, less tall flowers are used, fifty to one hundred centimeters.
With good care, cymbidium pleases with bright, large flowers, whose corollas have a large diameter: thirteen centimeters. The inflorescences of the racemose form are very powerful, the color options are very diverse.
Garden orchids
Orchids are grown not only on the windowsill, but also in open-air areas. Here they grow like annual flowers. In the garden there is always a place for outlandish beauties. This flower combines durability with endurance and enchanting beauty. That is why it is grown in the garden.
Outdoor plants are distinguished by lush greenery, which forms a curtain. The structure of the flowers is asymmetric. The leaves of garden orchids and lily of the valley are similar. They are elongated in length, veins stand out on their surface.
Orchids are distinguished by a fairly wide variety of species, but only three are suitable for outdoor cultivation in our climate. Of these, only one species has varietal variety - this is a venus slipper, or papiopedilum.
- The large-flowered slipper is a plant from the orchid family. The place where the flower grows is the middle strip of our country, its Far Eastern outskirts, southern Siberia, as well as Mongolia and Korea, Japan and China. In the wild, grows in forests of mixed type and deciduous. Here the flower can be found on the edges and clearings. This garden flower looks like an orchid. As a cultivated plant grows on personal plots and cottages. Prefers partial shade and soil enriched with humus. Withstands severe frosts. The bush is large, reaches a half-meter height. Flowering begins in early summer, in June. Beautiful large flowers - up to ten centimeters in diameter, have petals of pink or purple. The lip is characterized by severe bloating and is pink, dark red and white. The flowers are fragrant with a vanilla aroma.
- The spotted shoe is a very wide range of this flower: Europe and Asia, America and southeast Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada, the Himalayas, China and Mongolia. A spotted shoe is an orchid-like flower. It has the highest degree of frost resistance and versatility. Comfortable growing conditions for the flower are mountains and plains, forest edges and meadows, sand screes and rocks. Any soil is suitable for its growth: poor and enriched with humus. A flower similar to an orchid, whose name is a venus slipper, is highly decorative and easy to care for. On a small bush, up to thirty centimeters in height, flowers of amazing beauty grow with a white lip, decorated with large specks of pink or purple.