Opinion on Orchis seeds please

[Gabriela]

I’ve got an Orchis italica card with a seed envelope attached on the back (bought in Spain probably at the airport). Inside the envelope: 7 seeds, maybe they are true but I'm totally unfamiliar with this type.
I looked a bit around but cannot find reliable info; can someone confirm please if these are Orchis seeds? Crazy, eh?...
 
OK, so be aware from now on if you see such 'packets' for sale! (mine was a gift, of course with the best of intentions).

[Pauli]

Orchid seed is very small and usually needs a specific fungus to germinate naturally (or otherwise in a lab with a special culture medium)
Yours are no orchid seeds!

[Cfred72]

It would have been better to put a picture of Zea mays of black color or Nigella  . That would be more like it. The seed of orchis monkey resembles that of other orchis, with the naked eye. 
The photo of your sachet is easily found on the internet when you write Orchis simia on a search engine : http://lelombrik.net/50672

[Karaba]

Seems to be related to this : http://www.australianorchids.com.au/blogs/blog/70537797-bee-orchid-dracula-orchid-white-egret-orchid-monkey-face-orchid-seeds-fraud-con-orchid-seed-sellers

[Gabriela]

Pauli - I know very well how 'orchid' seeds are looking, in general. I was asking about 'Orchis' since I'm not familiar with the genus and was hard to believe such misrepresentation....

Yvain - thanks, I only did a quick google yesterday and didn't find the link you posted. Now is clear, what a bad joke! (not to use some other bad words).

[Gabriela]

Well, I don't know if it will matter on the big picture but I was upset and had to write something.
I am posting the link to my blog here in the hope people will find it as well through this forum.

http://botanicallyinclined.org/the-alien-invasion-fake-orchids-seeds/


Forgot to say - the seeds belong most certainly to Persicaria species.

[Tristan_He]

Not even the picture is correctly identified - that's Orchis simia, isn't it?

[Gabriela]

I don't know if it makes any difference Tristan and with such a bad picture I would leave it to the orchid experts.

[Tristan_He]

No.. and I just realised that Cfred posted the same thing upthread.

Shocking and blatant fraud. Though presumably easier to germinate than the real thing!

[Siri K]

Comforting then, that you can purchase seeds of the other monkey orchid from various net shops:

http://www.seedvendor.com/5sedrsimofao.html

https://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Monkey-Orchid-Flower-Garden/dp/B00XVMO7VW

I am fairly used to buying seeds that won't germinate, either due to them or me, however regular seed frauds seem to get increasingly more common.

[SteveC2]

A search for orchid seed on eBay produced over 400 results in the UK alone, with the favourites being naked men (Orchis) monkey faced (Dracula) Bee orchids (Ophrys) and even the flying duck from Australia which the Aussies tell me is completely impossible in cultivation even for their experts.  The instructions sometimes mention the need for the special sterile conditions required, but more often it is a case of spread them on the soil in your garden and wait.  Most of the sellers have 100% feedback, I guess because the buyers do not realise that they have been duped.
I particularly like the idea of packing five dust like seeds in a way that the recipient can find them when they arrive.
I do wonder how Argos would feel about being involved in this con as several are offering click and collect.

[Siri K]

I have done things close to ordering Orchis seeds in the darkest of January. Beware!