Orchid Habitats

Orchid habitats are diverse, ranging from the Arctic regions to the tropics, from sea level to elevations as high as 12,500 feet; but the most preferred regions are the warmer areas of the globe. Orchid species in tropical, sub-tropical, warm and cool temperate rainforests are largely epiphytic (growing in trees) or lithophytic (growing in the crevices of rocks) . Of the numerous epiphytic orchids, none is parasitic (a plant that lives on another plant from which it obtains nutrients). In the Arctic and temperate regions the orchids are largely terrestrial (growing on the ground).

Orchids are found in the following vital epiphytic habitats:

* Rainforests,
* monsoon forests,
* mangrove swamps.

Other essential habitats include those for terrestrial orchids:

* Coastal lowlands,
* water meadows,
* bogs,
* swamps,
* sand dunes,
* grasslands,
* moist rocks,
* creeks,
* mountain streams,
* and edges of waterfalls.


RAINFOREST HABITATS

More than half the world's rainforests are found in Central and South America. Other rainforests are located in Asia and Africa. Embedded in the tropical rainforests are monsoon forests. Unlike tropical rainforests which receive rain year-round, monsoon rainforests receive their rain during the monsoonal season which is then followed by a dry period.

Orchids growing in tropical rainforests tend to festoon the higher branches of tall, lofty trees with ferns, bromeliads, mosses and other epiphytic plants, where sufficient light and air movement penetrates the thick canopy for their growth. Their roots are exposed to the air or lie in leaf litter in the grooves of rough bark. So dense is the number of plants reaching for light and air flow that the tree branches often break under the weight.

In the monsoon rainforests the base of the stems of the epiphytic orchids are swollen and bulb-like in formation. These pseudobulbs hold a supply of moisture to save the plant from dehydration and death during the dry season between the monsoonal rains.