Orchidaceae

Most vascular epiphytes are from the particularly species-rich orchid family (Orchidaceae), with about 70% of Orchidaceae species being epiphytes.

NICHINAN: Photo shows a ‘spiranthes hachijoensis’ (Orchidaceae), a new species of orchid, in Nichinan, Miyazaki prefecture.

Of these, the Orchidaceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Arecaceae, and Iridaceae are monocot families; Piperaceae, Lauraceae, and Annonaceae are magnoliid (acot); the others are eudicot.

The APG II families (left) and their equivalent APG III subfamilies (right) are as follows: Structure of Asparagales Orchid clade Orchidaceae is the largest family of all angiosperms and hence by far the largest in the order.

The largest family in this group (and in the flowering plants as a whole) by number of species are the orchids (family Orchidaceae ), with more than 20,000 species.

The Orchidaceae is currently placed in the order Asparagales by the APG III system of 2009.