Orchid Borealis

(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 - ...

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 t...

Plants have been growing and flowering, regardless of the change in our world, but I haven't updated the blog for a while.  But this pretty orchid is in bloom, so I wanted to upload the photos. Jumellea is a moderately small genus with about 57 species (Rakotoarivelo et al. 2012).  Some species of Jumellea are similar to each other and difficult to identify (for me), but J. teretifolia is easily recognizable due to the cylindrical leaves (as the species epithet indicates).  The narrow and long flower parts give the elegant look.  This species is endemic to central highlands (1100-1500m) of Madagascar (Provinces of  Antananarivo , Fianarantsoa , Toamasina ; Cribb & Hermans 2009). Pollination biology of this species was studied by Nilsson et al. (1987).  Three interesting observations can be highlighted.  First, this species appears to rely on a single pollinator species.  Among 6 species of hawkmoths with long probosces (straw-lik...

I purchased this plant as Bulbophyllum potamophilum  from Far East Agriculture in May 2017.  It is obviously incoorect when you compare it to the illustration on Orchids of New Guinea web site.  It matches well to the illustration of B. himantospealum .  Indeed, many photos of B. potamophilum on internet are actually from B. himantosepalum , and I haven't seen a single photo of correct B. potamophilum yet. It is a fairly recently described species (Vermeulen & Sieder 2015), and there isn't much information available. Since the original description is based on a plant cultivated at Universität Salzburg Botanical Garden , habitat information is not available, but it was supposed to be imported from Papua Province of New Guinea (i.e. Western half of Papua New Guinea). Orchids of New Guinea web site has the most information, and they states that it is cool growing.  However, I have been growing it fairly warm; max/min daily temperature is 27/18C (80/65F)...

Happy New Year!  I was a bit busy, and didn't manage to update this blog for a while. The species is endemic to north and central Taiwan (Lin 1975, Wu et al. 2010).  Su (1975) mentioned that it is usually found on branches of Quercus spp (oaks). In nature, it flowers in December to February ( Flora of China ), which matches with the flowering time under my cultivation. The illustration is available here .  The elevation range is 1000-2000m ( Flora of China ), 1500-2000m (Su 1975), 1500-2300m (Lin 1975, Wu et al. 2010).  Accordingly, it has been growing well under 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 am growing it under a moderate amount of light (180-190 µmol/m^2/s with Apogee SQ-520 quantum sensor).  My plant originally came from Andy's Orchids as Ascocentrum pumilum .  It is a lovely miniature species with the leaf length of about 4-5cm. ...

The return of salmons is an exciting part of Alaskan summer for many people.  Taiga experienced a festival-like event of dip-netting in Kenai River two years ago ( link ).  But he hadn't caught a salmon by himself.  So this year, we hoped that Taiga would experience the power of salmons by himself.  Salmon runs can be quite different every year, and we wouldn't catch many if we miss the timing.  Also, I wasn't sure if some areas are fishable by a 7-year old kid.  With a bit of uncertainty, we started our adventure on Sunday, June 30, 2019 and fished almost everyday for a week.  Overall, I would say we had a successful trip!  It was the time when intense smoke from Shovel Creek Fire near Fairbanks was coming into town, so it was a great timing to escape from the smoke, too. First, we checked Gulkana River from Sourdough Creek campground and at the bridge of Richardson Highway.  But a fisherman with a raft said that it was very slow, so ...