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.
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
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
Jose, that's an alba crepidatum and quite rare. This is the first time I'm seeing one and your's might be the only picture on the net.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I've seen some pictures of D.crepidatum alba on the net. But this variety seems to be quite unique. And beleive me!! It's really hard to find in Kerala.
ReplyDeleteJose
where in Karnataka?
ReplyDeletethank you for this information. even iam in search of this orchid. no where i could get this plant. the major atraction is its sweet smell which brings holy wibes at home. if its available anywhere plz mail me sir
ReplyDelete