I had a question about orchids from a nature table explorer this week asking ‘ do orchids have bulbs?’ I have been finding out some information to help answer this.
Orchids grow in many different habitats and are adapted differently.
Many tropical orchids are epiphytes ( the grow on a tree or another plant)
Many of these epiphytic orchids have a swollen structure called a pseudobulb, these are very variable.When a new shoot develops the base may swell into a pseudobulb,this may be as a preparation for a dormant period at the end of a growing season.
The orchids we find in Britain growing in soil in a temperate climate do not have pseudobulbs they have underground tubers, corms or rhizomes. These store nutrients for dormancy when the orchid leaves die back.
Hopefully this is interesting information for the orchid explorer😀
This orchid was growing in very damp conditions at Wicken fen .
NATURE TABLE EXPLORER 