January 25, 2013
PHOTOS: Orchids of Latin America
Paphiopedilium appletonianum. Guillaume Paumier via Wikimedia Commons
From decorative arts to religious stories to regional recipes, orchids figure prominently in the cultures of Latin America. The Aztecs were said to value vanilla–made from the seed pods of a vining orchid–so highly that it was used to pay taxes. Early instruments were held together by glue made from the flowers. And some tortilla recipes called for Stanhopea blooms.
Representing their origins in Latin America, hundreds of orchids will be on display as part of the Natural History Museum’s “Orchids of Latin America” exhibit, opening January 26.
Complete with a Mexican plaza and a winding path through beds of the exotic flowers, the exhibit will feature nearly 600 flowers with a twice-weekly rotation to keep the blooms fresh. The show offers a warm escape from the bitter winter and a chance to see the flowers that were said to aid Montezuma in his encounters with his wives or that are still a featured part of religious ceremonies.
Cymbidium hybrid. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Oncidum cebolleta. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Cattleya labiata. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Psychopsis papilio. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Laelia anceps. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Masdevallia Macchu Picchu. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Odontoglossum pulchellum. User Orchi via Wikimedia Commons
Miltoniopsis hybrids. Photo by James Osen, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
Orchids of Latin America is on view at the National Museum of Natural History through April 21, 2013.
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Beautiful! I hope that everyone is having a nice Ash Wednesday,and I hope that they have a nice Valentine’s Day! T hat goes for last year and all the other years that I’ve missed.
The exhibit surely was a nice way to introduce to the public many neo-american tropical orchids with their varied and fascinating shapes, colors, and aromas. For that the Museums are to be commended.
But as a long-time orchid hobbyist what I cannot understand was your decision to start the above article with photos of two orchids which are Asian in origin, and not from Latin America.
Regards.
==