Orchid Borealis

Polystachya aconitiflora occurs epiphytically or occasionally lithophytically at elevations of 1650-3000m from Uganda , Rwanda , Zaire , and the Congo (Parsons and Gerritsen, 2013, p.807-808).  It is a easy-growing, compact species with the height of about 12cm (mine is about 10cm tall).  Although the flower is relatively small (about 1cm tall), it seems to flower most of the year. The species name (species epithet) is from the similarity to the flower of monkshood (genus Aconitum ). It was described in 1942 by Summerhayes (p.295-297), and the original description can be found in Biodiversity Heritage Library ( link ).  Podzorski and Cribb (1979) treated it as a variety of another species, Polystachya vulcanica var. aconitiflora . But more recent monograph seems to treat it as a separate species (Mytnik-Ejsmont 2011, Szlachetko and Mytnik-Ejsmont 2015). P. vulcanica is much bigger (both the plant and flower size), and the leaves are beefier (semi-terete) and longer...

The original description of the species was based on a plant from Annam.  Cribb (1998) mentioned that Annam is current day Laos.  Averaynov et al (2003) speculated more specific type locality and it is supposedly from  Attapeu Province , located in the south-east corner of Laos.  I wonder where they got this supposition since the original description simply stated Annam ( pdf of the original desciprtion available here ).  According to this wikipedia , Annam is the name used for Vietnam before 1940's (also see this link to Encyclopaedia Britannica ). In 1985, after 80 years of the original description, this species was found in northern Vietnam ( Vĩnh Phúc and Thái Nguyên Provinces; Averyanov 1988), far from the original locality.  Averyanov et al (2003) mentioned an unconfirmed locality from  Lào Cai  and  Lai Châu Provinces, which are in the north-west Vietnam, and disjunct from the other northern Vietnam locality.  Additionally, ...

I got this plant as Lepanthes sp. aff. manabina from Equaflor-a in spring 2017.  It was in a good condition from the beginning, and it started to recover/grow immediately. I wasn't paying too much attention to this plant, so I'm not sure when it started to flower, but I noticed lots of flowers in early October 2017.  After going through all of >1000 photos of Lepanthes in Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia (IOSPE) , I picked out a couple similar looking species with drab-colored, greenish, brownish flowers, and studied the illustrations of these candidate species.  I'm pretty sure this plant is L. cincinnata . The species epithet is derived from Latin "cincinnatus", which means "with curly tufts", referring to the curly tips of the 3 sepals.  At the end of this post, I'll try to explain the differences between these 5 species I picked as candidates. According to IOSPE, L. cincinnata is from Valle del Cauca , Colombia in cloud fores...

I covered how to convert shop light fixtures to use efficient T8-LED in a previous post .  The efficiency of T8-LED bulbs are widely variable, and the efficiency of commonly available T8-LED bulbs has been slowly improving.  However, the bulbs from Lowes, Home Depot, or Walmart are way behind, and they are still at least 20% less efficient than Sunritek bulbs which are 2 years old.  Now there are T8-LED bulbs with the efficiency higher than Sunritek.  But you do need to source these directly from China, and you probably won't be able to get those locally for a couple more years. I haven't had any failure with Sunritek bulbs (>50 bulbs), and I have been extremely happy with the results.  I have converted all of the shop lights and I needed additional fixtures to use Sunritek T8 LED bulbs.  I decided to use left-over lumbers to make a fixture cheaply.  I made the frame with 1x4 and L-shaped hardwood trim and painted it.  Mine will be used in ...

I received this plant from Ecuagenera in spring, 2017 as  Stelis trichostoma , a narrow endemic found in  Zamora-Chinchipe Province  of Ecuador (Luer 2000,  p. 85).  This species was originally described as  Pleurothallis trichostoma  (Luer 1979, p. 185).  Jay Pfahl (of IOSPE ) commented below that the plant I have is actually  Stelis rostratissima , and after examining the illustration, I agree that he is correct.  S.  rostratissima  was originally described as Pleurothallis rostratissima  (Luer 2002).  The description was based on a plant cultivated by Ecuagenera, originally derived from Zumba, Zamora-Chinchipe Province , Ecuador, altitude 1300m ( holotype illustration ).  The generic affiliation of this and related species has been changed several times in the past;  Specklinia  and  Effusiela . The plant has wiry inflorescence, and several moccasin-shaped flowers wiggle around with sli...