Today is Wednesday. It's no Friday but it's
not Monday, either.
To honor the fact that we are in the middle of week, I will tell you five facts of life, about me or someone else, faith, world and existence in general.
And what I want from you, my readers?
I want to know about you!
Leave me your facts, so I can enjoy reading them!
They can also be about you, your life or anything you find fascinating in this world or in the world beyond.
What can
you find growing around your home?
Do you
live in a big city or country side?
Are there
parks or forests? Maybe a desert or savannah?
One of the
things I love about living in Tena is the Amazon rainforest around us.
It is a luscious
background, perfect place for an adventure and incredible wonder for every day
I open my eyes.
Did you
know that even though rainforests only cover less than two percent of the Earth’s
entire surface, they are home to 50 percent of the plants and animals?
They can
be also found on every continent, except Antarctica.
Here are 5
amazing facts about a geourgous rainforest plant that I have learned to love.
Orchids
1. One of the two most common flowering plant families in the world
Orchidaceae is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants with blooms that
are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae
(aster, daisy or sunflower family), they are one of the two largest families of
flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,
found in 880 genera.
Selecting which of the two
families is larger is still under debate, as concrete numbers on such enormous
families are constantly in flux. Regardless, the number of
orchid species equals more than twice the number of bird species, and about
four times the number of mammal species.
2. Orchids come in every color, except black.
3. They are extremely varied
They grow on rocks, in the
soil, underground and on other plants and trees, all while relying on certain
insects or birds for pollination.
The species varies greatly
in weight and size with some petals getting as long as 30 inches, and flowers
growing up to 14 feet long.
4. The name means testicle
The name comes from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις (órkhis), literally
meaning "testicle", because of the shape of the root.Carl Linnaeus classified the family as Orchidaceae.
Orchid was
introduced in 1845 by John Lindley in School Botany, due to an incorrect
attempt to extract the Latin stem (orchis) from Orchidaceae.
5. Orchid in Greek mythodology
The Greek myth of Orchisexplains the origin of the plants. Orchis, the son of a nymph and a satyr, came upon a festival of Dionysus
(Bacchus) in the forest. He drank too much, and attempted to rape a priestess of Dionysus.For his insult, he was torn apart by the Bacchanalians.His father prayed for him to be restored, but the gods instead changed
him into a flower.
These flowers were previously called Orchis, Satyrion (Satyrion
feminina), or "ballockwort".
What kind of flowers grow around your house?
