The Environment that we inheritted and the next generation will inherit
from us, is worth of more awareness and love... There is a mysterious
sense at the word 'Orchid ... "It Has To Be Known To Love"
From this point on, we prepared this inventory of the orchids of our
beautiful island, Cyprus. Our duties include the possession of orchids
in a way to protect them by introducing them. Perhaps it will be
suitable to begin our words saying: "What is orchid? and Is wild orchid
present in the environment we live in? . The terms orchid anticipates an
expensive plant with pleasant odour and eye-catching colours. It is
generally presented to women. But beyond its prevalent image and being
man s favourite for centuries, orchids, as mysterious individuals of the
nature, are not far from us.
Perhaps we met most of them during a picnic, or during a walk we had
with friends in the country but we didn't noticed them perhaps we were
not interested in them. If you get acquainted with orchids or get
interested in them for the first time, our web site will be a good guide
for you at the beginning.
All the plants, covered in this web site are the orchid growing
naturally in Northern Cyprus. Of these thirty two taxon, one is endemic
to Cyprus. The others are the members widespread in five continents.
With this information, we prepared and presented, both botanic
specialists and passionate amateurs lowers of nature will have the
opportunity to know closely the orchids of Northern Cyprus.
Orchids
The family Orchidaceae, thought to have originated from the Liliaceae
family, is one of the largest and most evolved plant families in the
entire plant kingdom. Orchids (Orchidaceae) comprise the most diverse
family of plants, with over 25,000 described species in 400 to 800
genera worldwide. The Amazon is among the world's richest sources of
native orchids, from where thousands of species are described and many
more undoubtedly remain to be discovered. Orchids are differ from other
flowering plants because they have: their stamens and pistils (male and
female parts) fused together in one structure known as a column three
petals and three petal-like sepals usually has one different petal that
forms a lip or labellum making the flower laterally symetrical the
pollen is usually bound together in a few large masses known as pollinia
their flowers twists around during development known as resupination.
Ecology of Orchids
The ecology of orchids is a complex topic as the flowers themselves.
Orchids have a large habitat diversity and can be found almost anywhere
in the world, especially in tropical and warm temperate regions. Many
orchids live on other plants (epiphytic), on decayed material
(saphrophytic) or independent as usual plants (auto trophic). Nearly all
orchids are pollinated by insects notably bees and wasps, but also
butterflies, ants, flies and others. Moreover, almost every orchid
species is pollinated by just one or two kinds of insects. Even though
there are plentiful, many of them may go extinct if its pollinator
insect dies out.
North Cyprus Orchids
Because of their rarity and beauty, orchids hold a special fascination
for all naturalists. At North Cyprus, the orchid flora consists of 32
confirmed species, subspecies and varieties and a further three or five
which presence needs verifying. Some species will be familiar to
botanists from north-western Europe, such as pyramidal orchid and autumn
lady's tresses, but there are also more exotic species including violet
limodore, tongue-flowered serapias, naked man orchid and more. No doubt
more observant botanists will find these and other orchid species more
frequently but we think it s true to say that they are localised and
hence always a delight when stumbled upon. |
