Miracles Still Happen
A while ago, someone gave me a book – about orchids, of course. It is not a very new book, published in 1974 and written (in German) by Prof. K. H. Meyer. It contains extraordinarily beautiful colour plates of orchids painted by Kurt Beyer. These pictures alone would be sufficient to make this a wonderful addition to anyone’s library. However, Prof. Meyer has a way with words and writes many informative tales from bits and pieces concerning plants, particularly orchids, thus helping us increase our knowledge of these marvellous creations.
I want to share one particular sequence, albeit in somewhat abbreviated form. It deals with terrestrial orchids from our Northern climates.
Prof. Meyer states that the seed grain of an orchid does not contain an embryo plant, as can be found in other seeds. The tiny orchid seed will eventually land on the ground and optimally will be exposed to alternating conditions of moisture and dryness. In time, the outside layer of cell will be softened sufficiently to allow fungal growth to enter and attach itself to the seed. Only then will the orchid-cells begin to divide, (with the fungus supplying the food) to form a minute, rotund body called a protocorm. This pinhead sized grain has thin, root-like hairs all around its base and will stay in the ground, quite happily for four to five years in some cases. This same result will happen inside a sterile flask, without the fungi but with a nutrient solution feeding the protocorm. I have read that it can take between two to eight years before the protocorm decides that the time is right to change, to begin growing stems and leaves, to emerge into the light. Prof. Meyer informs his readers that it may take a Cypripedium sixteen years from sowing to flowering.
Alright, you say, that is not really new; but now comes what surprised me: Under adverse conditions, even mature orchids won’t rise above ground. For instance, if the surrounding forest grows too tall to admit sufficient light, the plant will at first stop making flowers, then their stems and leaves will become smaller and eventually – as plantae hypogaeae – they will remain underground, reverting to a sub-terranean stage, depending again on the fungi for food. These orchids have NOT died; they are waiting for improved conditions. If some of the trees would fall or if there would be a forest fire creating sunny openings, the orchids would re-appear. This incredible adaptation to such different conditions is called “Intermittation”. Thus we can, at times, experience great “Orchid Years” where these wild flowers will grow and bloom in lovely abundance. How – asks the Professor – can we tell the age of a wild orchid? We cannot. We must only stand in awe before such wonders and we all will, now more than ever, admire and enjoy the “Miracle of an Orchid”.
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress