The word kosbor simply means orchid in Hungarian—at least at the family level, the two terms are perfect synonyms in our language (though Orchis, or kosbor in the stricter sense, is actually a European genus within the orchid family). When most people hear the word “orchid,” they imagine some exotic, tropical flower so extraordinary that to see it in its natural habitat, you’d have to sign up for a jungle expedition, with all the unavoidable trappings (heat, humidity, swarms of mosquitoes, and dangerous, venomous animals). And if we want to enjoy one at home, we typically go to the nearest shop and buy one of the most common houseplant orchids. But orchids also occur in temperate regions, including our country, in many places—you can encounter them even during a short walk in the woods, and they’re not that rare even in urban environments.
Of course, there are some obvious differences when you come across a European orchid. For one, they are all terrestrial, meaning they grow out of the ground like most plants at this latitude. Secondly, their flowers are smaller and arranged in a characteristic inflorescence: individual flowers branch off from a straight central axis on small stalks, in a kind of tiered structure. The inflorescence often consists of quite a large number of flowers (even 40–50 in species like marsh orchids or fragrant orchids), though in some genera (such as lady’s slippers) there may be only one or two flowers at the tip of the stem. Meanwhile, members of the Nigritella genus have a distinctive cone-shaped inflorescence that looks nothing like what most people picture when they think of an orchid.
Because of this, we often walk right past orchids in the wild—even when encountering a more colorful specimen. Less conspicuous species are practically invisible to most people. Yet if you examine the individual flowers up close, most of them have a very orchid-like appearance and share common traits. The most important of these is bilateral symmetry (zygomorphy), created by three outer tepals (called sepals) and, in the inner whorl, two petals plus a third modified into the so-called labellum (lip). In many genera, the tepals fold together into a helmet-like shape (as in Orchis, Anacamptis, Dactylorhiza, etc.), further emphasizing this symmetry. The lip, also zygomorphic, is the most striking part of the flower, with a wide variety of shapes, patterns, and markings; its main function is to attract insects, essentially serving as a landing platform prior to pollination.
Fertilized flowers of orchids develop into capsule fruits containing thousands of tiny, lightweight seeds, which the wind can carry over great distances—up to 100 kilometers. The price of this lightness, however, is the lack of nutrient reserves, meaning that once the seed reaches the soil, it requires a partner to absorb nutrients and develop until photosynthesis properly begins. This partner is always a fungus. The phenomenon is called mycorrhiza, usually a symbiotic relationship, though sometimes it can be parasitic. In later stages of development, the role of the fungus typically diminishes, except in orchid species that do not photosynthesize at all or only partially—for example, the bird’s-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) or violet limodore (Limodorum abortivum).
All orchids are geophytes (i.e., perennials), meaning they store the resources needed for overwintering in their underground organs. These structures may take the form of paired tubers, palmately divided (finger-like) tubers, rhizomes, or pseudobulbs. Plants with paired tubers, for example, produce a new tuber each season. As the growing season progresses, the old tuber gradually withers during the summer, while a new daughter tuber develops alongside it. By the following spring, this daughter tuber reaches maturity and becomes the main (mother) tuber for the next season, and the cycle begins again. Examples of such plants include species of Orchis, Ophrys, and also Nigritella. These tubers are rich in starch and polysaccharides, which unfortunately makes them a target for collection in regions such as the eastern Mediterranean, the Caucasus, and Asia Minor. They are harvested to produce the popular, sweet (and, in my opinion, rather unpleasant) drink, ice cream, and other products known as salep (in Turkish, salep refers to the tuber itself). As a result of this practice, many tuberous species in Turkey have been pushed to the brink of extinction. Although salep collection is, in principle, punishable, commercial salep is nowadays produced from alternative sources.
In contrast, in rhizomatous species, it is the continuously growing rhizome (essentially a modified underground stem) that stores nutrients and is also responsible for frequent vegetative reproduction through the formation of offshoots. Examples of rhizomatous orchids include species of Epipactis, Limodorum, as well as the lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus). The hand-shaped tuber of marsh orchids (Dactylorhiza), however, does not renew itself in the same way; instead, it continuously develops and expands throughout the life of the plant. In the case of the bog orchid (Hammarbya paludosa), a pseudobulb develops year after year on the upper part of the true underground organ, the rhizome, close to the soil surface. Thanks to these survival strategies, orchids can reach remarkably old ages—often several decades, and in some cases even spanning a human lifetime—which is particularly noteworthy among herbaceous plants.
Still focusing on flower structure, orchids are unique in that the stamen and the female reproductive part (the stigma) are fused along a common axis into what is called a column (gynostemium). During evolution, the typical angiosperm configuration of two whorls of three stamens transformed, and—with one exception—all but one stamen became reduced or vestigial, while the remaining stamen became part of the column (except in lady’s slippers, where two stamens remain). In some species, remnants of the other stamens can still be seen as so-called staminodes, appearing as small appendages on the column or merely as dots around the stigma (for instance, in bee orchids, such spots can be observed on the side walls of the stigmatic cavity). The structure of the column often reveals a remarkably complex pollination mechanism—orchids can be extraordinarily ingenious when it comes to reproduction.
It is therefore no surprise that orchid pollination strategies are highly diverse. European species—unless they are self-pollinating—always rely on insects and can persuade them to perform this critical task in a variety of ways:
- offering nectar in exchange for pollination (e.g. some Epipactis species, Gymnadenia, Epipogium, Spiranthes)
- pretending to offer nectar but actually deceiving the pollinator (Orchis, Dactylorhiza, Anacamptis etc.)
- disguising themselves as prey in the eyes of insects (Steveniella, Epipactis helleborine)
- setting traps, where the pollinator can only escape by completing the task (lady’s slipper orchid – Cypripedium calceolus)
- sexually deceiving insects (Ophrys)
Perhaps thanks to this wide array of reproductive strategies, the orchid family is the largest plant family on Earth, comprising around 30,000–35,000 species, depending on how strictly species are defined. Only the daisy family (Asteraceae) comes close in species number—and even surpasses it in number of genera, with about 1,300, compared to “only” around 900 genera of orchids. The center of diversity is, of course, in the tropics, where most orchids are epiphytic, living on trees and often difficult to access—hence new species are still being described even today. In Europe, there are roughly 1,000 species, most of them occurring in the Mediterranean, with a large proportion belonging to the Ophrys genus, which is still highly active in speciation.
In fact, orchids occur almost everywhere except the polar regions: in barren tundra, dense taiga, temperate forests and their natural meadow clearings, managed hayfields, pastures and grasslands, Mediterranean scrublands, alpine meadows, fens, and marshes. Moreover, since most European species are pioneer plants, they are often among the first to colonize habitats altered by humans. As a result, they can appear in abandoned mines, along roadsides, in excavation pits, and sometimes even in highly urban environments.
Over time, orchids have adapted quickly to increasingly widespread human activity. In the clearings, pastures, and meadows that opened up after forests were cut, these otherwise poor competitors were among the first to establish themselves—and would have been quickly displaced during succession if not for continuous grazing and mowing, which prevent the grass layer from becoming too dense and the area from turning into shrubland and eventually forest again. Today, one of the main problems is precisely the decline, absence, or overuse of these activities (overgrazing or frequent mowing can prevent flowering and fruiting, ultimately leading to the decline or even extinction of orchid populations).
Humans, of course, can harm and endanger orchid flora in many different and often indirect ways. Improper land use, greenfield developments, road construction, urban expansion, mining (though abandoned mines can offer excellent opportunities for recolonization by pioneer species), overpopulation of game animals, indirect effects of climate warming (which do not affect all species equally), collecting, and trampling—all contribute to reducing and fragmenting this already sensitive plant family into small, isolated refuges. And the direction set by human activity today suggests that these pressures are not decreasing but intensifying, so globally the future of orchids does not look particularly bright.
