Orchid Borealis

Brassavola grandiflora is from the Pacific side of central America.  I obtained this plant from Andy's Orchids in 2017.  It is a care-free, easy growing plant, and it is relatively compact (height of 15-20cm).  It usually produces much more flowers, but this time it produced only 2 flowers.  It seems to flower more than once a year, and it seems to be aseasonal.  I keep it at a warm end of intermediate temperature; the max/min daily temperature is 29-27/21-24C (80-85/70-75F) in the summer and 18-21/16-18C (65-70/60-65F) in the winter. It is similar to B. nodosa .  Frequently, people mentions the larger flower size and wider, flatter, less terete leaf than B. nodosa as the difference.  Additonally, Withner (1998) mentioned that the different shape of the column (Fig. 5-2).   Difference in the column shape between Brassavola nodosa and B. grandiflora .  Excerpt from Fig. 5-2 of Withner (1998) Note that the lower side lobes near the tip is a little bigger.  Also, there is an additio

Mystacidium venosum is from South Africa ( Eastern Cape ,  KwaZulu-Natal ,  Mpumalanga ,  Limpopo ),  Eswatini  (=Swaziland) and Mozambique (la Croix and la Croix 1998, Stewart et al. 2006).  The habitat could vary, including woodland, riverine bush, coastal and montane forests. In nature, this species flowers in winter time (April to July of Southern hemisphere in Stewart et al. 2006 and April to October in Wodrich 1997).  la Croix and la Croix (1997) mentioned that it bloomed in autumn and early winter (October and November) in their greenhouse.  The photos in this post were taken on March 9, 2017, but it was within 1 year after importation from Afri Orchids of South Africa, so it was still in Southern hemisphere time.  Subsequently, it started to flower in fall (late September).  It was making better displays, but I didn't take photos, and the plant unfortunately died in 2020. M. venosum and M. capense have the longest spur (>4cm) in the genus.  These two species are sim

  Mystacidium aliceae is from South Africa ( Eastern Cape ,  KwaZulu-Natal ) and only a few localities are know (la Croix and la Croix 1998).  It grows on twigs in coastal forests up to 500m (Stewart et al. 2006).  They are in deep shade in forest and scrub and often near a river (la Croix and la Croix 1998).  It is one of the smallest species in the genus.  Flowers are off-white with a touch of yellow, and they are tiny.  Under magnification, you can see the flower is a little translucent and crystal-like. It is somewhat similar to  M. flagananii (see this post ), but the inflorescences of  M. aliceae  are much shorter than the leaves while the inflorescences of  M. flagananii  are quite a bit longer than leaves (Wodrich 1997). My plant is from  Afri Orchids . I got this plant in 2018 (2 years ago), and there is one original leaf left, which is much bigger than the newer leaves.  So it is probably still recovering from the import, and it might become bigger.  Wodrich (1997) mentions

  Mystacidium flanaganii  is from South Africa ( Eastern Cape , KwaZulu-Natal , Mpumalanga , eastern part of Limpopo ) and  Eswatini (=Swaziland) (la Croix and la Croix 1998). They grow on twigs of yellow-wood trees in  coastal scrub forests (Wodrich 1997).  The flowers are small (the spur is 2-3cm), but the bright green color is beautiful. It is similar to M. pusillum , but the flowering time is different; M. flanaganii flowers in the summer while  M. pusillum flowers in the winter (Stewart et al. 2006).   M. pusillum is generall smaller than M. flanaganii (Stewart et al. 2006).  It is also similar to M. aliceae , but the inflorescences of M. aliceae are much shorter than the leaves (Wodrich 1997).  The inflorescences of  M. flagananii are quite a bit longer than leaves. My plant is from Afri Orchids . Wodrich (1997) recommends to grow it under 60-80% shade with cool to intermediate temperature and to give 2 months of dry winter rest (watering once every two weeks).  I'm gr

  This species has a limited geographic distribution and is known only from the Soutspansberg Mountains in Limpopo Province of South Africa (Stewart et al 2006).  It grows on fig trees ( Ficus spp.) in shady forests (la Croix & la Croix 1997).  It is a compact plant, but it sends out lots of fat roots.  Mine is still young and produced only 2 inflorescences, but it can produce an amazing amount of flowers for such a small plant. I purchased mine from Afri Orchids .  Wodrock recommend intermediate to warm temperature an moderately dry winter resting period (water every two weeks for 4 months).  My culture isn't like that, and I'm growing it in at the cool-end of intermediate temperature; the max/min daily temperature is 29/18C (84/65F) in the summer and 21/13C (70/55F) in the winter.  I water every other day in the summer and every 4-5 days in the winter.  It seems to be doing well, but I'll see if more severe dry winter is beneficial. Stewart et al (2006) mentioned t

  This species was included in genus Mystacidium at one point.  According to Wodrich (1997), it is a rare species, and only found in a few coastal forest areas bordering rivers, around East London in the Eastern Cape and Durban in KwaZuku Natal. They are usually on the underside of twigs and branches not far above the ground at elevation range of 0-200m (Stewart et. al. 2006).  Intermediate temperature and dryer winter (e.g. watering once a week) is recommended (Wodrich 1997). I obtained my plant from Afri Orchids . I have been growing it at a cool-end of intermediate temperature; the max/min daily temperature is 29/18C (84/65F) in the summer and 21/13C (70/55F) in the winter.  It seems to grow well, and particularly, the root growth seems to be fairly fast.  I might be giving a bit too much light, so I moved it a little further from the light (currently PPFD of 110 µ mol m -2  s -1 ). Note the green anther caps and fat, funnel-like spurs.  The photos are from June 21, 2020. Literat

(The photos are from April 12, 2020) This species makes rather weird flowers.  The flowers are located at the base of pseudobulbs, so it is pretty difficult to take pictures of them.  Also, I took photos when the flowers were starting to wilt, so I couldn't get good photos.  But I made the dissection, so I'm posting the photos here.  I'll update with a better photos next time when it flowers.  But it is rather a slow grower; I've had it for 5 years (purchased in May 2015 from Far East Agriculture), and this is the first flower.  So I'm not sure when it will flower next. According to IOSPE (I didn't double check), this species is fairly wide spread; from India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand at elevations of 0-1300m.  I have been growing it at a cool-end of intermediate temperature; the max/min daily temperature is 29/18C (84/65F) in the summer and 21/13C (70/55F) in the winter.  I was growing it at PPFD of 70  µ mol m -2  s -  , but recently it was move

This plant flowered at the end of May.  The Covid-19 pandemic caused lots of changes for our lives (home-schooling a kid, canceled summer camps etc.), and I haven't gotten around posting this blog post until now.  Even thought it is expected that a new disease will pop up now and then, but I've never thought that we would experience the pandemic of such a large scale in our lifetime.  We shouldn't take this lightly since so many lives are lost, but it is a unique experience to learn how people and the society respond to pandemics. Going back to the plant, I noticed Bulbophyllum japonicum (Laos) listed in 2019 price-list of NT Orchids. B. japonicum is from Japan, Taiwan, and China, and I was skeptical that the distribution wouuld stretch to Laos.  So I had to get it to see what it it.  When the flowers opened in May 2020, it was obviously miss-identification.  Going through the orchid checklist of Laos (Schuiteman et al. 2008), I quickly learned that it is B. levi