We have investigated the mycorrhizal associations of two nonphotosynthetic orchids from distant tribes within the Orchidaceae. The two orchids were found to associate exclusively with two distinct clades of ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetous fungi over wide geographic ranges. Yet both orchids retained the internal mycorrhizal structure typical of photosynthetic orchids that do not associate with e...

The type of reproductive isolation prevalent in the initial stages of species divergence can affect the nature and rate of emergence of additional reproductive barriers that subsequently strengthen isolation between species. Different groups of Mediterranean deceptive orchids are characterized by different levels of pollinator specificity. Whereas food-deceptive orchid species show weak pollina...

Orchidaceae is the second largest family of flowering plants with nearly 35,000 species in more than 850 genera. The whole family is endangered of survival due to habitat loss, fragmentation of populations, genetic drift and huge anthropogenic pressures. The Chinese were the first to cultivate and describe orchids for their medicinal uses. Theophrastus reported the medicinal properties of orchi...

Sexually deceptive orchids lure pollinators by mimicking female insects. Male insects fooled into gripping or copulating with orchids unwittingly transfer the pollinia. The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs. Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and was...

Mediterranean orchids of the subtribe Orchidinae are highly diverse and display a range of fascinating pollination strategies. Based on observations that orchid-pollinator relationships are often highly specialized and species specific, Darwin and others have argued that selection for different pollinators has been the driving force behind the evolutionary diversification of orchids. This may b...

The type of reproductive isolation prevalent in the initial stages of species divergence can affect the nature and rate of emergence of additional reproductive barriers that subsequently strengthen isolation between species. Different groups of Mediterranean deceptive orchids are characterized by different levels of pollinator specificity. Whereas food-deceptive orchid species show weak pollina...

aperture in the tissues surrounding the meristems. 'This simple experiment revealed that there were four distinct regions of the embryo with different plasmodesmata apertures. The shoot meristem had the highest aperture enabling movement of single-to-triple sized GFP; the hypocotyl (embryonic stem) allowed single, double and some triple-sized GFP movement; the root allowed single and double-siz...

Certain orchids produce flowers that mimic the sex pheromones and appearance of female insects in order to attract males by sexual deception for the purpose of pollination. In a series of field experiments, we found that the sexually deceptive orchid, Chiloglottis trapeziformis, can have a negative impact on its wasp pollinator Neozeleboria cryptoides. Male and female wasps, however, were affec...

BACKGROUND Linnaeus developed a robust system for naming plants and a useful, if mechanical, system for classifying them. His binomial nomenclature proved the catalyst for the rapid development of our knowledge of orchids, with his work on the family dating back to 1737 in the first edition of his Genera Plantarum. His first work devoted to orchids, indeed the first monograph of the family, was...

Ethnobotanical Studies were carried out in some parts of Ahdhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu to identify orchids reported to have medicinal properties and to study their botanical distribution. This has resulted in the recording of 9 orchids used by the local population.