Orchid Flower Diagram – Lip, Column and Pollinia Labeled

All 9 parts on the diagram

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The flower 5

Petal An orchid has three petals. Two are alike, one on each side; the third is the lip.
Sepal An orchid has three sepals, behind the petals. One is at the top and two lower down, left and right.
Ovary In an orchid the ovary is behind the flower, not inside it. It looks like the top of the flower stalk, and it is usually twisted.
Lip (labellum) The third petal, unlike the other two. It attracts insects and gives them a place to land, right under the column.
Column One organ made of the stamens and the style joined together. In most other flowers these stand apart.

The column, enlarged 4

Stigma A sticky hollow on the side of the column facing the lip. Pollen brought by an insect sticks here.
Anther (anther cap) Sits at the column's tip under a small cap. The pollinia lie inside it until an insect pulls them out.
Pollinia An orchid's pollen is packed into lumps called pollinia. An insect carries off the whole set, glued to its body by the sticky pad at the foot of the stalk.
Rostellum A small beak between the anther and the stigma. It keeps the flower's own pollen off its stigma, and its sticky part glues the pollinia to a visiting insect.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 against sources read that day; a name is kept only where two of them use it: (1) N. L. Britton and A. Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (1913, public domain), Orchidaceae, https://archive.org/details/illustratedflora00brit; (2) Charles Darwin, The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects (2nd ed., public domain), https://archive.org/details/variouscontrivan00darwuoft; (3) Wikipedia, Orchid, Column (botany), Labellum (botany), Pollinium and Rostellum (text only). Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced or copied. Licence: own work

How it works

This orchid flower diagram shows a flower from the front, with a small side view for the ovary. The second drawing enlarges the column, the one organ in the middle that does the work of both stamens and pistil.

Read the full guide

The flower, then the column

Numbers 1 to 3 are a petal, a sepal and the ovary, which sits behind the flower. Numbers 4 and 5 are what make an orchid an orchid: the lip and the column. Numbers 6 to 9 are on the column enlarged: the stigma, the anther under its cap, the pollinia and the rostellum between them.

Count three sepals and three petals. The lip is the third petal, shaped differently from the other two.
Look for the ovary behind the flower. It looks like the top of the flower stalk.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of an orchid flower?

Three sepals, two petals and a third petal shaped differently, the lip. In the middle stands the column, which carries the anther, the pollinia, the rostellum and the stigma. The ovary is behind the flower.

What is the column of an orchid?

A single organ made of the stamens and the style joined together. In most other flowers the stamens and the pistil stand apart.

What is the lip of an orchid for?

It is a petal shaped differently from the other two. It attracts insects and gives them a place to land, right under the column.

What are pollinia?

Lumps of pollen. An orchid's pollen is not loose dust: it is packed into pollinia, and an insect carries off the whole set, stuck to its body by a sticky pad.