Fruit maturation times in orchids


Abb. 1. Dendrobium sp.
Fruit maturation times are an important characteristic for the adaptation and ecology of plants, and in the case of orchids they also reflect the respective adaptations to the habitat. It is therefore understandable that tropical epiphytic species have different seed-ripening periods than terrestrial species. The easiest way to explain the extremely short seed-ripening times of Mediterranean orchids is that the vegetation period is short, because after the flowering the habitat dries out and the orchid plant feeds on the reserves of the subterranean tubers. Among the epiphytes there are species that can be found in monsoon areas, for example. There too, water stress prevails during the dry season. Nevertheless, there are species which have extremely long ripening times, in which the seed capsule only opens after the dry season. These should only be a few indications of the ecological importance, in individual cases the exact climate at the location must always be consulted.

The seed ripening times shown in the table always refer to the period between pollination and opening of the seed capsule. In most cases, these were self-pollinated, since only in very rare cases more than one clone of a species was available.

Fruit maturation times are intended to provide a guideline for orchid lovers who are involved in seed propagation of natural species. With it he can estimate how long he will have to wait after pollination. In the table you can also find the date, so you can extrapolate the date if you have pollinated in other seasons. The table can be sorted by the different columns, click on the column to change the sorting.

The following data were obtained from the following persons (in alphabetical order):
E. M. Arnautova2, J. Babczinsky1, W. Balmes4, G. Gerlach1, B. Klein1, T.V. Majsak2, V. Nazarov2, A. Richter1 & A.I. Shirokov3
1 - Botanical Garden München-Nymphenburg, Menzinger Straße 65, 80638 München, Germany www.botmuc.de
2 - Botanical Institute BIN RAN, ul. Prof. Popova 2, Saint-Petersburg, Russia www2.binran.ru
3 - Botanical Garden NNGU, Nizhny Novgorod, Botanical Garden St. 1, 603062, Russia www.unn.ru
4 - Werner Balmes, Wiesenstraße 8, 64689 Grasellenbach, Germany

Go to application "Duration of seed ripening in orchids"
You can click on column header to reorganize the table.
You can click on each column entry to select the entries with the same value.
Abbreviations: BGM - Botanical Garden Munich-Nymphenburg, Germany; BGHD - Botanical Garden Heidelberg, Germany; BIN - Botanical Institute RAN, Russland; NNGU - Botanical Garden NNGU, Russia; WB - Werner Balmes, Germany.


Abb. 2. Morphological diversity of orchid fruits .... Tafel von Beer (1863).


Abb. 3. Morphological diversity of orchid seeds .... Tafel von Beer (1863).