Scimitar-shaped. A "scimitar" is a type of curved sword you see in those 1,001 Arabian Nights type movies. I.E. curved-shaped.

Term applies to sympodial type orchids, referring to the annual portions of successive growth of the rhizome, each beginning with scaled-leaves, ending with an inflorescence.

Applied to roots which do not arise from the radicle or its subdivisions, but from a node on the stem, etc

Gelantinous substance obtained mostly as translucent strips or white powder from certain sea weeds; used as solidifying agent in culture media.

Designates a group of genera that have many common characteristics and can be used for cross breeding to produce new hybrid genera. An alliance is limited to genera within a single tribe.

A leaf-like organ (often very reduced or absent) bearing a flower, inflorescence or partial infloescence in its axil

A membranous pocket or pouch in the orchid flower, covering or enclosing the viscidium to stop it from drying up, and being pushed back by visiting insects.

A dry fruit which opens, when the seeds are ripe, at several slits or holes. Any closed vessel containing spores or seeds.

Slender stalk-like appendage that attaches the VISCIDIUM (a sticky gland) to the POLLINIA (pollen packets).

The green pigment in the leaves and sometimes stems of most plants, which uses solar energy to convert carbon dioxide and water to sugar, which is essential in the manufacture of food by the plants.

The male and female reproductive organs of the orchid. The column (technically called a "gynostemium") is formed by the fusion of male portion of the flower (stamens) and female portion (pistils). This is one major characteristic that defines orchids and differentiates them from all other flowering plants.

The progeny resulting from pollination from one plant to another. The term is sometimes applied to a hybrid between different species. "CROSS" is also used to describe transferring of pollen from one flower of a plant to another flower of a different plant.

The horticulture term for "variety" used in botany which refers to minor differences that differentiates a plant from the typical species such as a variation in flower color.

"falling off"; Plants that periodically (usually seasonally) loose their folage to conserve moisture during dormant period.

epi, above or on; phyte, plant; a plant that grows on another plant-- such as on a bush or tree, but is not nourished by it (hence, not parasitic). They use the host only for anchorage, drawing food and moisture from the air and from humus collected in the angles of branches or in the crevices of the bark. An "air-plant." Orchids generally are found growing one of three ways: as EPIPHYTES (the majority grow in this manner), LITHOPHYTES, or TERRESTRIALS.

A group of plants, usually of several genera, and many species, which have the same basic floral structure and can thus be readily segregated and recognised from other families.

Leaf-like; used particularly in reference to sepals or bracts which simulate small or large leaves in texture, size, or colour

A classificatory term for a group of plants, usually composed of several slightly different species, but with characters distinctive enough to enable the genus to be recognised as a separate entity within a family.

A Latin word meaning "group" or "flock"; the name used to describe a group of offspring of any given hybrid cross. When a grex name is registered, All additional identical crosses, plants produced from seeds of that cross or any asexual divisions of the cross all have the same grex name.
"orchid hybrid (grex) names"
The International Orchid Register is the century old international registration system for orchid hybrids. Its purpose is to ensure that grex nomenclature is uniform, accurate and stable, free from duplication and in accord with internationallly agreed rules.
The Orchid Review is the first place in which all new grex registrations are published for the first time, thus providing an important international service to the orchid world.

A taxonomic designation rejected because the identical term has been used to disignate another group of the same rank (a Synonym)

A plant which is the offspring of parents of different species. Hybrids are either INTRAGENERIC or INTERGENERIC.
The International Orchid Register is the century old international registration system for orchid hybrids. Its purpose is to ensure that grex nomenclature is uniform, accurate and stable, free from duplication and in accord with internationallly agreed rules.
The Orchid Review is the first place in which all new grex registrations are published for the first time, thus providing an important international service to the orchid world.

The "flower-cluster";Technically, it's "a general arrangement and disposition of the flowers on an axis" There are many types of inflorescences based on the form of the flower cluster and the manner/sequence of flower blooming. The major orchid inflorescence forms include Spike, Raceme and Scape. Other less common forms seen in orchids include Cyme, Corymb, and Umbel.

Term usually used when referring to cross breeding different species of a single genera producing new hybrids.

A petal, usually of quite different shape and size to the others, normally at the bottom of the flower, or apparently so, and often, especially in orchids, of complicated structure.

litho-, stone; phyte, plant; a plant that grows on stone-- using it for anchorage, drawing food and moisture from the air and from humus collected in the crevices of the stone. An "air-plant." Orchids generally are found growing one of three ways: LITHOPHYTIC, EPIPHYTES (the majority grow in this manner), or TERRESTRIALS.

Arid, stony tracts of siliceous soil, covered with shrubs but not trees, such as frequently found in mediterranean countries.

The chin-like protuberance occurring in certain orchid flowers, formed usually by the bases of the lateral sepals with the elongated column-foot

Tissue composed of dividing cells to produce tissues and organs, located in small amounts within the growth buds, root tips and the growing point of shoots.

A laboratory technique that involves the taking of the growing meristem tip from within the new growth and culturing the nucleus of cells, in a similar way to germination of orchid seeds artificially.

The intermediate or middle part of the lip of orchids when this structure is separated into three distinct parts, as in Stanhopea

With the male (staminate) flowers and the female (pistillate) flowers borne in separate inflorescences but on the same plant

Orchids that grow primarily upwards, producing new growth at the top of the plant from the location of the previous growth. Leaves are produced alternately on either side of the central stem as it grows. Orchids with a monopodial growth pattern are less common than those with a sympodial growth pattern.

A network of hyphae made from new cells that have elongated and split repeatedly forming a network. Quiescence - A stage of dormancy that new buds enter during early winter or periods of cold.

Orchid flowers normally position the lip at the bottom just above the column. Some genera, however, such as Cycnoches, Malaxis, and Nephelaphyllum position the lip uppermost with the column below making the flower appear to be up-side-down.

The female or seed-producing organ of a flower, consisting usually of the ovary, style, and ; in orchid The pistil becomes part of the column and pedicellate ovary

Spores or grains borne by the anther, containing the male element; in orchids, it is usually not granular, as in most other plants

The apperatus of the orchid used to transport pollen from one flower to another. The pollination consists ofThe POLLINIA (pollen packets), the CAUDICLE (a stalk-lke appendage), and the VISCIDIUM (a sticky gland)

Thickened or bulb-like stems (called "pseudobulbs" because they are not true bulbs) produced by some SYMPODIAL orchids to store water and food. Only orchids whose habitat has seasonal periods of dryness or drought have adopted this life-saving characteristic.

A process used to purify water by forcing contaminated water through a semipermeable membrane. The membrane allows the water molecules to pass through but not the other substances contaminating the water. Reverse Osmosis is used to commercially purify sea water as well as by hikers to remove impurities from water found along the trail.

The woody parts of the rootstock at the base of the orchid which grows along or just under the surface of the ground or along host. New growth of sympodial orchids always begins at the end of the rhizome.

Gr. "little beak": Refers to a slender growth of tissue located at the upper part of the column which physically seperates the male and female parts thus providing a barrier to prevent self pollenization. The rostellum also is used to apply a sticky "glue" to the back of the pollinator (usually an insect such as a bee) to attach the POLLINARIUM (the pollen transport system).

With a conspicuous hollow swelling. The term is usually used to describe the bag, pouch, or sac-shape of the lip on an orchid flower, like the lip-shape of species in genus Paphiopedilum.

Plants often lacking chlorophyll; receiving nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter; needing the services of certain fungi to be able to absorb food.

The pollination by the plant's anthers of either the same flower or a flower on the same plant. In hybrid names, you will often see (x self) in the name of the plant which means it was crossed by the same plant. (see SIBBED)

Plants that have the same parentage. In hybrid names, you may see (x sib) in the name. This means the cross of the plant was made using the same parents. (see SELFING)

A group of organisms, forming a subdivision of a genus, which have similar characteristics, enabling one species to be identified from its neighbours; a true species persistently breeds true to its main characters.

An elongated unbranched inflorescence (flower-cluster) in which the flowers are devoid of pedicels.

Hollow sac-like or tubular extension of the lip, usually nectariferous spurred -having spurs

The male reproductive organ of a flower. In orchids the one or two stamens are part of the column.

Small plants that are formed on flower stems. In some orchids the flower stem has nodes which carry the dormant eyes and can develop into buds or leaves.These new plants are called "keiki".There is a hormone compound called keiki paste that is used in the developmentOf these plantlets. This practice is commonly used on Phalaenopsis.

A true-breeding form of a species, often characteristic of a different geographic area, which is not sufficiently distinctTo warrant separate classification.

Orchids that produce new growth from the base of the plant where the previous growth occured (from the rhizome). The majority of orchids have sympodial growth, the others have a monopodial growth pattern

A single floral part formed by the partial or complete fusion of two or more of the orchid sepals (usually the lateral pair as in a Paphiopedilum).

Plants that grow in or near ther surface of the ground; growing in soil. Orchids generally are found growing one of three ways: as TERRESTRIALS EPIPHYTES (the majority grow in this manner), or LITHOPHYTES

An indeterminate, convex or flat-topped i` in which the pedicels of the cluster arise from a common point

From the genus name Vanda, alluding to any orchid having the characteristics of a Vanda species; large monopodial orchids such as genera Aerides, Arachnis Rhynchostylis, and Renanthera.

A sticky disc-shaped gland located at the base of the caudicle (a slender stalk-like appendage). Used to attach the pollinia (pollen packets) to an insect allowing the pollen to be carried to another flower.