AboutOrchids

The Honolulu Civil Beat offers two great stories about native Hawaiian orchids. The first article, “Hawaii’s Three Native Orchids,” is a quick read with great photos of the endangered species. It has an update on attempts to rescue the rarest variety from extinction, which I’ve blogged about before. So far, it’s good news on Kauai, where several Platanthera holochila plants have been successfully reintroduced, and another wild plant holds on. Both articles include a slideshow of the species’ unique mountain habitat on Kauai, the Alakai Swamp.

The second article, “Saving Hawaii’s Rarest Orchid,” explores this unique habitat in-depth. The Alakai Swamp is one of the rainiest places on earth, and it’s home to dwarf trees, unusual ferns and mosses, and many endangered plants, including that last known wild Platanthera on Kauai. The author treks through this alpine bog with scientists who are working hard to reestablish the species. With their efforts, the rare orchids might regain a foothold and begin the long journey away from the edge of extinction.

Nobody can doubt the global appeal of orchids with a list like this. As the show schedule slows down in the northern half of the planet, it picks up in the southern half. Santa Barbara bucks the trend to offer a major American event. No matter where, these shows are full of orchid sights and scents.

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Since most orchids sold are hybrids, let’s continue the Orchid Names category with more about them. When a hybrid is a cross between plants from the same genus, it uses that genus name. For example, 2 Phalaenopsis parents produced the hybrid Phalaenopsis Bonita:

• Phalaenopsis Bonita = Phalaenopsis stuartiana x Phalaenopsis buyssoniana

If a hybrid is a cross of more than one genus, it’s known as an intergeneric hybrid. Its genus name is a combination of the parents’ names:

• Vandofinetia = Vanda x Neofinetia
• Miltonidium = Miltonia x Oncidium
• Brassolaeliocattleya = Brassavola x Laelia x Cattleya

If a hybrid has 3 or more orchid families in its parentage, then the hybrid creator chooses a name (often their own) and adds “ara” to the end:

• Wilsonara = Cochlioda x Odontoglossum x Oncidium
• Colmanara = Miltonia x Odontoglossum x Oncidium
• Iwanagara = Brassavola x Cattleya x Diacrium x Laelia

Here’s an extensive list of orchid genus names, their standard abbreviations, and their parentage. It’s helpful when deciphering name tags or exploring hybrid composition.

A South Florida news team is hot on the trail of a blue Phal mystery. Blue Phals sell at major retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s. They’re not naturally blue, but dyed instead. The horticulture industry has been dying other flower varieties for years, but the patented process is relatively new to orchids. Nobody paints the blooms; the producers infuse a dye internally. There are naturally blue orchids, like some Vandas and Dendrobiums, but none in the Phal family. In this case, the news team is investigating customer complaints about the blue blossoms’ high price and lack of a disclaimer on the plant label. To resolve the mystery, the stunning “Blue Mystique” Phals will have new labels clarifying that their color is artificial, and any future blooms will be white. Maybe someday an orchid breeder will create a similar hybrid, but for now, orchid lovers have a brilliant blue ruse.

With late spring rains followed by warm temps, our urban garden is offering lots of blooms for today’s solstice.  The flowers range from a small, pastel Epidendrum to an Orchid Cactus with brilliant red blossoms as big as dinner plates.

Fittingly for the first day of summer, we’re having a heat wave. I’ve got my work cut out for me watering and trying to keep the humidity up for the orchids. The season’s bounty will be easier to enjoy if the fog returns tomorrow as predicted. It promises to be a colorful summer.

San Francisco Bay Area orchids highlight an article in the Los Gatos Patch. Numerous native species grow in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco, and they call to longtime orchid lover Ed Nazzal like sirens. He braves poison oak and rattlesnakes to find lovely locals like the Steam Orchid, Epipactis gigantea, and the beautiful purple Calypso bulbosa. The article includes good photos so you can enjoy the flowers without the hiking hazards.

Urban gardens are more popular than ever, and our little patch of San Francisco exemplifies the trend. In the back yard, this great Masdevallia species has been blooming for 6 weeks. This flower has faded from its most brilliant, but it’s still a vivid pink. The next photos show a white calla lily and a mass of orange lilies, all enjoying our mild Mediterranean climate.

Fuchsias are a San Francisco standard, and these flowers buds are just peeking open. In the middle photo, delicate flowers interrupt the geometry in a pot of succulents. Bright yellow pollen in the center lights up the paper-thin petals. They’re all part of the action in our urban garden.

OK, I admit it — as a website and blog about orchid basics, it’s past time that I tackled understanding orchid names. Whether reading a plant tag, researching care info, or talking to a fellow orchid grower, we all encounter those long names. So I’ve created a new category, Orchid Names, and this is the first post to help unravel this complex topic. Whether you’ve just bought your first orchid or you’re an experienced grower, consider this as a primer that I’ll build upon.

Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus established biology’s system of binomial nomenclature in the 1700’s. Using Latin names, it allows everyone on the planet to have the same name for the same plant or animal. The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature currently governs the system for all plant species and hybrids, and the names that we see most often are the genus and species.

Let’s start by deciphering the name tags for these 3 orchid varieties:

The first photo is Cattleya loddigesii, an orchid species. The genus name is Cattleya, and the species name is loddigesii. The discoverer of this orchid named it for George Loddiges, an English orchid grower in the 1800’s. Written properly, the genus name is capitalized, and the species name is lowercase: Cattleya loddigesii.

The second is Phalaenopsis Maki Watanabe. It’s a hybrid in the Phal family, named by its creator for someone called Maki Watanabe. The fact that Maki Watanabe is capitalized shows that it’s a hybrid, not a species. This variety is a cross between 2 other hybrids, Phal. Romance Miki and Phal. Otohime. Sometimes a name tag lists a hybrid’s parents with an “x” between them to show the cross: Phal. Romance Miki x Phal. Otohime.

The third is Paphiopedilum Dollgoldi AM/AOS.  This hybrid is a cross between 2 species, Paph. rothschildianum and Paph. armeniacum. The capitalized Dollgoldi shows that it’s a hybrid, not a species, and I’d guess that it’s a reference to the bright yellow flower.  The initials after that, AM/AOS, indicate that this cross has earned an Award of Merit from the American Orchid Society. The AOS grants the AM and other awards to recognize excellence in orchid breeding and cultivation.

The award systems used by orchid societies and the horticulture industry vary in different countries. Besides the AOS, Britain’s Royal Horticultural Society uses the initials RHS in its award system, such as Paphiopedilum Rosy Dawn AGM/RHS. AGM stands for Award of Garden Merit.

The Smithsonian presents “The Orchid in Chinese Painting” at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington DC. With 20 works dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries, the exhibit shows the long history of Cymbidiums in Chinese art and culture. For thousands of years in East Asia, orchids have been symbols of beauty and elegance. They have also represented moral character, friendship, loyalty, and patriotism. The display runs until July 17th.

An intimidating Latin name, Paphiopedilum venustum, threatens to distract from this beautiful Paph. Fortunately, that translates to the very pronounceable “Charming Lady Slipper.” The Latin for “Stunning Lady Slipper” might fit better, but perhaps that name was already taken. Indeed, “charming” seems an understatement for this wonderful species from the southern slopes of the Himalayas. It grows in the shade of dense bamboo jungles in northeastern India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Besides the name Charming Lady Slipper, it’s also known as the Snakeskin Orchid. That’s not inspired by the fascinating veins on the flower pouch, but by the blue and green patterning on the leaves. In the wild, it grows as a terrestrial, and enjoys the monsoon rains, which have just started in southern India. In cultivation, this orchid requires daily watering, and can handle cooler temps during winter dormancy. Several color variations exist. Along with yellow color forms, many have red and maroon hues.