Nature Presentation

Dorotea e chiara

Orchidea

Orchidaceae

In ancient Greece, the word "orchis" meant testicle, which obviously refers to procreation. Among the Aztecs, orchids were offered to young couples as a good omen for their union. The rounded and generous flowers of orchids are a symbol of abundance. Their cultivation spreads to Europe after C. Darwin's studies.

Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth except glaciers. However the world's richest diversity of orchid genera and species is found in the tropics. They are adaptable, they depends on bees and birds so they are threatened by extinction if that species doesn't exist.

For the ancient Greeks, the first Orchid was born from the metamorphosis of Orchis, a beautiful and very fiery young man, son of a Nymph and a Satyr, punished and fed to ferocious beasts for having dared to undermine a priestess of the god God- niso. From the remains of Orchis the Olympian gods, taking pity, made a slender and modest plant grow, the antithesis of his exuberant body, but which in its roots preserved the memory of the male anatomical parts that had been the cause of his end (orchis in Greek means “testicle”).Starting from this myth, numerous legends and popular beliefs were born which attributed to Orchids mainly aphrodisiac and curative powers against female sterility.