Orchid age is an estimate for a lineage
Сучасна Phalaenopsis aphrodite subsp. formosana; приклад живої орхідеї, не викопна квітка чи реконструкція предка / Living Phalaenopsis aphrodite subsp. formosana; a modern orchid, not a fossil flower or ancestral reconstruction. Credit: sunoochi from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; CC BY 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=75037226
Orchids have a long evolutionary history, but “all orchids are over 120 million years old” confuses different meanings of age. A 2024 study reconstructed the origin of the living orchid family at roughly 85 million years ago. Estimates depend on data, calibration and whether the question concerns a lineage’s separation or the common ancestor of living orchids. This does not mean present species or individual plants have persisted unchanged for that long.