They typically contain the remaining orchids with a single, fertile anther ( = monandrous), which is also fully incumbent ( = strongly convex) to suberect (= ascending towards the edges).

The incumbent anther forms a right angle with the column axis or is pointed backward in many genera.

Most epiphytic seed plants and ferns are found in tropical and subtropical rainforests because they need high humidity to survive.

[citation needed] Epiphytes are not adapted to droughts in the same way are other flora, because they don’t have access to the ground, but they still have some mechanisms to help them survive.

Some become completely dormant for months at a time; many epiphytes show crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), which involves taking in CO2 at night, and photo-fixing it during the day with closed stomata to reduce water loss by transpiration.

CAM can be impeded by higher night-time temperatures, dehydrated tissues, and high saturation deficits in the surrounding air, which lower the "stomata conductance" of the epiphytes, reducing the CO2 uptake, which in turn reduces growth and reproduction and even induces carbon loss.

Higher temperatures, strain on evaporation, and contact to light cause CAM-idling, which is the epiphyte closing its stomata when it becomes stressed, that brings down the range of habitats a species can inhabit.

The tribes are listed below: Epidendreae Maxillarieae Vandeae Collabieae Podochileae Calypsoeae Arethuseae Dendrobieae Malaxideae The tribes of the subfamily Epidendroideae (as of 2014) Higher epidendroids (vandoids) Lower epidendroids This classification has a rather ephemeral nature and is prone to frequent revision.