Orchids

Orchids are the main topic of this house, some in permanent display, including species not only remarkable for their flowers but also for the great diversity of their habit, growth form, and life form, some even within a single genus (like Dendrobium and Angraecum). This includes herbacous, terrestrial, epiphytic, grass-like, leaf-succulent, stem succulent, or bulbous plants, some with most conspicuous arial roots, some dwarf plants of few centimeter size, but also lianas many meters long. The largest of them are Vanilla pompona and V. planifolia. Photo: Dendrobium nobile.

Most conspicouous for their showy flowers are species, cultivars, and hybrids of Cattleya, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, and Dendrobium. But some small-flowered species in the temporary display are no less attractive.

Further displays in this house include cultivars and hybrids of other tropical plants, particularly Cryptanthus and Calathea, and species of Nepenthes, various aroids and Blechnum gibbum.

B. Leuenberger