Hymenorchis javanica is endemic to western Java at elevations of 900-1000m (Parsons & Gerritsen 2013, p.518-819). It is a tiny plant (leaf length is about 2cm), but it gives a disproportionately large display of crystalline flowers. The flowers are jewel-like especially with a little bit of back light.
This plant is originally from Ooi Leng Sun. But I purchased it from another person in June 2014, and he accidentally shipped the plants via USPS First Class (current USPS Retail Ground) instead of USPS Priority. USPS Priority takes only 3-4 days for the delivery to Alaska, but USPS First Class can take a long time. The First Class packages usually (but not always) get shipped to Federal Way, Washington, and then they travel to Alaska via a boat. So it took 16 days. Some of the orchids were dead on arrival, but majority of them were highly stressed and I lost many of them subsequently. I wasn't sure if this one is going to make, but it managed to recover and it finally bloomed. Here is a photo of the original sad condition:
And here is how the plant looks like after 3.5 years of steady growths.
Culture: Parsons & Gerritsen (2013) recommend intermediate to Iintermediate-cool temperature. I've been growing it at a cooler end; max/min daily temperature of 29/18C (84/65F) in the summer and 21/13C (70/55F) in the winter. I'm giving Phalaenopsis level light (about 100 µmol m-2 s-1), but I think that it would be happier with more light. It gets high humidity (around 80%), and I water once every other day. I wouldn't call it a fast grower, but it seems to grow steadily.
Literature Cited:
- Parsons, R. and M. E. Gerritsen. 2013. A Compendium of Miniature Orchid Species. Volume 2. Redfern Natural History Productions (link to the publisher's site).
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