Orchids

Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants, living in diverse habitats on every continent except Antarctica. The world's richest diversity of orchid genera and species is in the tropics. Many species are epiphytes, living on trees. The flowers and their pollination mechanisms are highly specialized, attracting insect pollinators by colour, pattern, scent, pheromones, and sometimes by mimicking female insects. Orchids have very small seeds, rely

Gastrodin is a chemical compound which is the glucoside of gastrodigenin. It has been isolated from the rhizomes of two orchid species, Gastrodia elata and Galeola faberi. It can also be produced by biotransformation of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde by Datura tatula cell cultures.

2,4-Bis(4-hydroxybenzyl)phenol is a phenolic compound produced by the saprophytic orchid Gastrodia elata and by the myco-heterotroph orchid Galeola faberi.