Dendrobium With a Spicy Fragrance

An orchid with a spicy fragrance from the 'Land of Spices'!!  Yes!! The fragrance of Dendrobium aquem is somewhat similar to that of Den. crumenatum ( Pigeon Orchid ). Flowers are about 4cm and they bloom in Sept - Oct. I've read about them many years back, but have started growing them just couple of years back. It is an easy plant for even the beginners and it readily flowers. After the flowering the leaves fall off and the plant takes a rest during winter. New growth starts by Feb - March.

Dendrobium aqueum

Dendrobium aqueum

Dendrobium aqueum

Dendrobium aqueum

Jose

A Pretty Dendrobium

Here is a Dendrobium with attractive lilac colour occring in altitudes around 500M above MSL. The flower shape is very similar to that of Den. ovatum except its colour. I am not sure about its identity. The flowers last for 3 - 4 weeks. They are lithophytes ( growing on rocks ) and flowers during Feb - March.

Dendrobium barbatulum - pink



The Tongue Orchid of Kerala

We have heard about different nick names for different types of orchids. Dove orchid (Peristeria elata), Palm orchids (Spathoglottis), Moth orchid (Phalaenopsis), Tiger orchid (Grammatophyllum), Pigeon orchid (Den. crumenatum), Black  Orchid (Trichoglottis brachiata), Scorpion Orchid (Arachnis), Dancing Princess (Oncidiums), The Nun Orchid (Phaius) etc. are some of them.

In Kerala we have 'The Tongue Orchid'. The botanical name is Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum. I've seen it growing only on rocks (Lithophyte). They are found at an altitude of around 1000M above MSL.

Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum - Excitement at seeing the buds.

Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum - Buds developing

Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum in bloom.

I find them  very difficult plants to grow. The difference in temperature might be the reason. Any how I had them blooming at my home last year. The flowering time is Feb- March.

Jose

The Search for Dendrobium crepidatum var. album

My collection of native orchids started way back in 1981. Those days I was in Pala ( Kottayam Dist.). During the Christmas Season, children used to come for carol singing holding the canes of Den. ovatum with bunches of white flowers on them, and they used to call it Wand of St. Joseph ( Yauseph Pithavinte Vadi). I was attracted by the beautiful flowers, but then, I was practically ignorant about orchids other than Spathoglottis plicata (Palm Orchid) and Peristeria elata ( Dove Orchid).

Then I happened to come across a book written by Dr. Abraham and Valsala in the college library. I didn't understand much but I came to know the basics of orchid growing and that there are hundreds of varieties of orchids in Kerala. Fortunately in those days my father was in PWD and he used to go to forest areas for investigation of the projects. During vacations I started to accompany him in such trips and started collecting orchids.

One of the orchids fascinated me those days was a dendrobium with pure white petals and white lip with yellow throat. My father collected it from some place in Idukki. The flower was about 3cm across. I got only one plant and it had been blooming well while I was in Pala. Then we got transferred to Alapuzha and after some time the plant was shredded into pieces by some animals. I was in search of this plant for almost 25years with out success. A couple of years ago I revisited the forest area from where it was found earlier and after a search for over 3hours finally I got couple of seedlings.

Dendrobium crepidatum var. album  found in Kerala

One of the seedlings bloomed last year and my mother sent me this photograph. This year too the buds appeared, but the insects, squirrels and chameleons seem to have a particular affinity towards this plant. The buds were destroyed as well as my hopes of getting better photographs this year, but luckily the plants are intact. So till the next bloom we will have to wait.

Only very recently did I come to know that this dendrobium is in fact D. crepidatum.This plant normally sheds its leaf by Nov - Dec and blooms by Feb - March. Active growth starts in June and matures by Sept - Oct. I got another variety of this from Karnataka with different colour. I'll upload the photograph later.

Jose

Some Orchids of Kerala in Their Natural Habitat

Dendrobium ovatum

Dendrobium, Coelogynes and Bulbophyllum growing on a rock in full sunlight.

Vanda tesellata with flowers in Coimbatore District

Calanthe sylvatica blooming in deep jungle.

I am an orchid crazy person from Pathanamthitta. For nearly 25 years I have been growing orchids. Growing orchid species is very challenging when compared with growing hybrids. I am more into species.

 Kerala, with its lush green forests and high humidity levels, is ideal for orchids. Numerous varieties of natural orchids are seen all around us. But for a layman like me, the details of most of them are unknown. Some extensive works had been done in the past by the eminent botanists like late Dr. Abraham, Valsala, Dr. Sathish and so on  in this field and details are described in the language of the taxonomists ( which is like a foreign language to me) and  the photographs of most of them are not available.

Ofcourse, the photographs of some very popular orchids like Rhyncostylis retusa, Cymbedium bicolor, Vanda tessellata, the world famous Paphiopedillum druryii etc are available in the internet nowadays. Recently I came across a blog by Mr.Prejith Sampath from Kozhikkode with photographs of some of the native species. He is doing a commendable job in popularising the orchids of Western Ghats.

Hence I too, in my humble way, am trying to share some of my experience and photos with you. Most of the photographs are taken by my mother as I am staying abroad. So please don't expect any professional quality in the photos. Please consider them from the information point of view only. Whenever better photographs become available, I'll update them.

Please forgive me for any of my mistakes as I am an engineer and not a botanist. So please feel free to correct  me when I am wrong. That way I can also update my knowledge base . . .

Jose