The Orchidaceae or Orchids are a diverse family of colorful flowering plants. These flowers are noted in Popeye comics for being the only thing Eugene the Jeep will eat. It is remarked that if Eugene is not fed orchids, he will die, thus adding a certain edge to the Jeep's care as these are known to be highly prized and expensive flowers.
The Jeep's reliance on orchids is not consistently portrayed in the subsequent animated cartoons as produced by Fleischer Studios: although Popeye the Sailor with the Jeep (1938) features the sailor hero feeding his pet an orchid, the later Popeye Presents Eugene, the Jeep (1940) has Eugene greedily devour a full table of meats and other foods.