Orchidacea family

Natural scents are exclusive products, used for the most highly-priced perfijmes. The largest market of perfumes - particularly in the poor developing countries - is based on synthetic materials. Natural scents are mostly derived from flower plants, evolved to be recognized by pollinating insects. The orchids (flower plants in the monocotyledonous family Orchidaceae, which make about 10% of all flower plants) are highly rated for scents, particularly the woody scent afforded by a sesquiterpenoid, caryophyll-5-en-2a-ol. 

FIGURE 10.15 The structures represent a general presentation of all the anthocyanins identified in each of the families Leguminosae, Liliaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Orchidaceae, Ranunculaceae, and Solanaceae. See Table 10.2 for abbreviations. 

If Asteraceae, which are primarily herbaceous, are examined on a per-sample basis, the 192 samples that actually have been collected, are well below the predicted number of 472. Thus, while close to the predicted number of genera of Asteraceae have been sampled, the majority of species have been sampled only a single time as whole plants and the family is underrepresented on a per-sample basis. Figure 3.2 presents actual values for representative plant families with a line for predicted values. Again, most families beneath the predicted line are composed mostly of herbaceous species, but on a per sample basis, it becomes more apparent how underrepresented families like Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Orchidaceae actually are. Likewise, both Figures 3.1 and 3.2 clearly demonstrate that those families consisting mainly of woody species that are major structural elements of forests have been collected at a rate greater than would be predicted by chance. 

Not all floral scents consist of fragrant volatiles. Unpleasant odors associated with dung, carrion, urine, rotting fungi, and decaying cabbage and onion have been found in abiotic mimicry in many plant families such as Araceae, Aristolochiaceae, Orchidaceae, and Apocynaceae.103 Several saprophagous insects are attracted to these flowers and act as selective pollinators. 

VI. Order Orchidales.—Orchidacea or Orchid Family.—Perennial herbs of terrestrial or terrestrial saprophytic or epiphytic growth,... 

Blues (1833) had Apostasia and Neuwiedia as a separate family next to Orchidaceae. Bentham (1880) included Apostasia and Neuwiedia in the Diandrae (as primitive members). Ferdinand von Mueller (1867) had Apostasia in the Hypoxidaceae. Hutchinson (1959) placed the Apos-tasiaceas even further remoted (in his system in others systems they are considered much closer related) near Burmanniaceae and considered it the ancestral family to Burmanniaceae. The complete history shows even a wider range of opinions. ... 

Chemicals that are potentially capable of phototoxic action have been Isolated from more than 30 flowering plant families. Their occurrence among Important monocot and dlcot families is shown in Table 1. Most of the taxa represented in this table synthesize several types of photosensitizers. Members of the Asteraceae (sunflower family) and the Rutaceae (citrus family) for example synthesize the widest range of phototoxic compounds. Other families (e.g., Hypericaceae, Llliaceae, Moraceae and Orchidaceae) either lack or fail to express such biosynthetic diversity. Plants from these latter groups contain phototoxins derived from a single metabolic pathway. 

Orchidaceae (nine genera). Additional pyrrolizidine alkaloid-producing plants are scattered throughout six other unrelated families 164). 

Fig. 2.12 Vanilla ( Vanilla planifolia), a plant in the family Orchidaceae together with the 3D struetures of vanillin light grey balls represent hydrogen atoms, mid-grey balls earbon atoms, red balls oxygen atoms). (Authors own work and copyright-free Wikipedia picture)...

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