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March 2000 This month ONT will focus on: The Origins of Orchid Growing.
The Orchid family is one of the most evolved and also biggest families of flowering plants. At present it is estimated that there are 730 genera and 25 000 species in existence. Orchids are very diversified and are found virtually in all regions around the world except for deserts.
Orchid growing is an ancient hobby. Orchids have been grown and cultivated in China for over 2500 years, making the Chinese the earliest orchid growers. In the I-Ching (Book of Changes – Written by Confucius (551-479BC), orchids are prized for their beauty and fragrance. The most popular species grown by Chinese during those early years were mainly small-flowered ground-growing (terrestrial) cymbidiums. These species are still very popular at present in China as well as in Japan. Orchid growing as it is practiced today, is relatively different to orchid growing in the early years.
Modern orchid growing is a fairly recent development and it was not until the sixteenth century that the first exotic orchids found their way to Europe. Modern orchid growing started 200 years ago and was made possible by European trade, conquest, exploration and religious missions which opened up the orchid-rich tropical regions of the world.
The
establishment and growth of a wealthy class further contributed to the hobby of
orchid growing. Wealthy people with lots of time and money, soon got interested
in the expensive and exotic hobby of orchid growing. With empire building as
stimulus and the wealth provided by the Industrial Revolution, the hobby of
orchid growing was soon adopted in England, particularly by royalty, wealthy
industrialists and landed gentry.
It is interesting to note that the first tropical orchids that were flowered in Europe in cultivation, can be traced back to the end of the seventeenth century. This orchid was Brassavola nodosa, imported into the Netherlands. The second tropical orchid flowered in cultivation in Europe was a West Indian orchid, Bletia verecunda, and was sent by Peter Collinson from the Bahamas. This orchid was first flowered by Sir Charles Wagner, a horticulturalist and collector of rare plants in 1732. In
1786 Phillip Miller reported growing Vanilla planifolia, which is the
source of commercial vanilla essence, at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London.
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew could list 15 tropical orchids in cultivation
by 1794. The first of these orchids to flower at Kew, was the West Indian Encyclia
cochleata in 1783. Modern orchid cultivation at Kew Gardens has grown to
such an extent over the years, that at present, some 400 orchid species are
cultivated there. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew has probably the oldest
surviving orchid collection in the world. INTERESTING FACTS: Lewis Castle, in his book Orchids (Third edition, 1887), mentions at random the following figures for various orchids sold at Covent Garden between 1850 and 1888:
1850: an Angraecum eburneum - 19 guineas; 1855: an Aerides schroederae - £89; 1856: a Vanda batemanii - £43; 1861: a Saccolabium - £52; 1869: a Cypripedium stonei - £38; 1883: an Aerides - 235 guineas; 1885: a Vanda sanderiana - £180.
(It is worth remembering that the average monthly salary of a domestic servant towards the end of the nineteenth century, was in the region of 30 shillings (£1.50)!(A servant had to save all his/her montly salary for the period of 10 years to buy one Vanda sanderiana!). Bibliography: Cribb, P., & Bailes, C. "Orchids." Page 11. Running Press. Leroy-Terquem,
G., & Parisot, J. 1993. Next month we will focus on "Virus: The Invisible Enemy".
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Please Note: The opinions & recommendations made in articles that appear on this website, are those of the individual authors, and not those of the Orchid Society of Northern Transvaal (ONT). The ONT neither adopts nor endorses such opinions & recommendations and disclaims all responsibility for them. This includes products advertised on this website. |
