Orchids are made from seeds like all plants, however unlike all plants
orchid seeds do not have stored food (endosperm) that allow the plant embryo
to live until it can grow its own roots and leaves and produce food on its
own.

In the real world orchid seeds live in realtionship to fungi that occur in
the ground. These fungi provide the orchid embryo with the nutrients it
needs until the plant can produce them on its own.

In the olden days orchids were hard to come by because out of the hundreds
of thousands of seeds that an orchid pod makes only a few would make it
through to seedling size. Even in culture, orchids had a dismal survival
rate (as compared to today.)

However today orchid seeds are raised with a great survival rate by growing
them in sterile conditions inside a glass (or other material) flask that
contains an agar base that provides the proper nutrients until the plant can
produce them on its own. Hundreds of thousands of orchid seedlings can be
raised and sold. Hence the explosion of orchids in the marketplace. I'd say
the creation of flasking was the single most influential discovery in orchid
science of any time.

K Barrett

"keith" wrote in message
news
What are Flasks?
is it what orchid seedling are transported in?
Sorry if i sound stupid!