One of them is the most widespread: the orchid butterfly (Phalaenopsis spp). It has spectacular splendor and lives and flourishes easily in the depths of our environment. They come from South-East Asia, Australia and Peru and are descendants of numerous hybrids between different species of the same genus. They live on trees, not on earth, that is to say, they are epiphytes, so in the tits it does not bring soil but a mixture of shells. The root tends to spread out of the vessel, as in the trees, and is able to perform photosynthesis of the leaves. It opens large bouquets of butterfly like flowers; the name of Phalaenopsis comes from the Greek words phalaina, “butterfly”, and ospsis, “alike”.

25.000-30,000 orchids are considered natural species. In addition, gardeners have created about 60,000 hybrids and varieties. Except in the vicinity of poles and deserts, they live virtually all over the world, most of them in intertropical regions. Many live in trees, also on land, and some even underground (of the genus Rhizanthella). Most are herbaceous, and there are also those who can live for many years. Some live clustered in large groups; others are climbers, such as the one that gives famous aromatic pods for the well-known vanilla species (Vanilla fragans). There are orchids that, as a good smell, exhale stench. In the weekly Egin Hemen Sergio Basurko published on March 20, 1987 the article Orkidea: the enchanted flower that comes from the tropics and look at what it said: “However, the aromatic scale of orchids appears to be even wider. From the most wonderful smells to the stench of the orchid Bulbophyllum beccari, one of which was crazed twice by a biologist drawing one of them, and vanished by the nauseous smell of the flower.”

Euskal Herria is not among the tropics, but we have quite an orchid, more than a hundred yes, and all of the earth. The fame of orchids and their particular lifestyle have made many botanists feel seduced and captivated. There are three whole books dedicated to orchids from this small territory, all in pure Spanish: Orchids of Navarra, 1982, by Marianne Van de Sluys and Luis González Artabe; Orchids de Bizkaia, 2000, by Amador Prieto Fernández; and Orchids de Euskal Herria, 2001, by Xabier Lizaur Sukia. These three lists at least 108 types, while others are mentioned.

Colombia is one of the countries with the most chances of orchids, and a park is being built and built to collect and care for them. When to know the park of the orchids of Euskal Herria?