Cattleya Alliance |
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Orchids possess highly developed flowers. One of the major evolutionary trends observed in the orchid flower, compared to other families, is that the male and female reproductive organs are fused into a single structure called a column. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An orchid flower consists of 3 sepals and 3 petals even
though some of these may be fused or modified in some cases. Two of the sepals are
called lateral sepals,
and the third one a dorsal
sepal. One of the 3 petals, called a labellum or a lip, is
usually larger and more prominent than the other two petals.
References: H. Bechtel, P. Cribb and E. Launert, The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species, The MIT Press, 1981. A. Skelsey, Orchids,Time-Life Books, 1978. |
