Where Orchids Originally Came From
By Orchid Geeks
Where did orchids originate? One may as well ask where man originated, for like man, the ubiquitous orchid is found on nearly every continent in nearly every climate. Also like man, the orchid has a myriad varieties and forms - so many that one botanist has stated, "There is no such thing as a typical orchid."
There are over 30,000 varieties of orchid not including manmade hybrids. Most people think of orchids as tropical plants, but there are mentions of orchids in Chinese writings as early as 500 B.C. In the Western world, the Greek botanist Theophrastus mentioned Orchis in manuscripts around 300 B.C. An Aztec herbal dating from the 1600s mentions vanilla, a type of orchid. From Egypt to the Americas, from the South Seas to the mountains of Switzerland, there are native varieties of orchids that grow in the woods, the rain forests, the mountains and even the seashore.
The modern day history of orchid cultivation, however, begins in the 1880s when William Cattley of England received a shipment of ornamental plants from the Brazilian jungles. The plants were packed in bulbs of another plant for protection, and out of curiosity, Cattley
placed one of those plants into his glass house (what we now call a greenhouse). That plant was the Cattleya labiata orchid - the plant that most people think of as the 'orchid'.
Some of the most enchanting members of the orchid family are far less showy. The delicate lady slipper and brightly colored Calypso fairy slipper are found in the Northern woods from New England through Canada, and the Thai spider (bulbophyllum medusae) with its mane of 'hair' grows in the lowlands of Thailand.
Here are some articles to start with...
| IPTV By wikipedia IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a system where a digital television service is delivered by using Internet Protocol over a network infrastructure, which may include delivery by a broadband Read more... |
Bangkok. A brilliant place to visit in 2006. By Matthew Lawson Approximate flying times: From New York: 17 hrs. From Chicago: 22 hrs 30 mins. From LA: 19 hrs 25 mins. If New York is the city that never sleeps, forget the alarm clock. Bangkok, Thailand's Read more... |
| thailand news: |
A Traveller in Siam in the Year 1655
<P class=producthead>A Traveller in Siam in the Year 1655</p><P class=productheadtwo>Extracts from the Journal of Gijsbert Heeck<br>Translated by Barend Jan Terwie</p><p>Gijsbert Heeck (1619-1669) visited the east with the Dutch East India Company. From his journal we get an eyewitness account of 17th. Century Siam. He gives us not only information on larger political issues such as the problems between the Dutch and the Portuguese, but also the smaller ones like the relationships of local Dutch men with indigenous women</p><p>Paperback<br>Chiang Mai 2008<br>Silkworm Books <br>124 pages<br>ISBN 9789749511350</p>