Orchid Growing Videos Search! Enter Your Topic Below:

Chapter - 29

Quaint Orchids

There are differences of opinion about roses; gladioli J. and carnations have their cliques. But all differences and cliques vanish when the name of an orchid is mentioned. An orchid, no matter how insignificant, is always an orchid. Therefore, the uncommon botanicals listed in this chapter are worthy of your attention. They are either beautiful or have some unusual feature to recommend them. Their only shortcoming, if any, is that often there is no ready market for their flowers. They aren't always to be found in commercial nurseries. Each of these orchids will have one or more characteristics to endear it to orchid enthusiasts. It may be a fragrance that is out of this world, a scent that chemists with all their coal-tar derivatives and technical training cannot duplicate, a color that an artist would give his soul to imitate, or an unusual and whimsical shape.

Whichever it may be, lovely or curious, these uncommon orchids are included here not as afterthoughts but as suggestions to add beauty, drama, and excitement to your collection of orchids. A cattleya may be the sign of a hobbyist, but these orchids are the mark of the specialist—one who savors the nuances of the orchid kingdom.

AERIDES

This genus of epiphytes, largely from areas in and around the East Indies, is usually found growing on tree branches that overhang streams and rivers. This closeness to running water seems to give them sufficient moisture to survive in the more arid regions of India and Malaya. Their rich, arching, evergreen foliage produces a tropical aerial effect, even though the plants may not be in flower, and is a basis for their name, which means "Children of the Air."

The waxy-textured white, pink, lilac, and rose flowers are usually delightfully fragrant both day and night. The flower stems, initiated from the top portion of the plants, are about twenty-four inches long and may be erect or drooping. Their tight flower clusters led English sporting society to call one of them—Aerides fieldingii—the "Fox-Brush Orchid."

Aerides have no pseudobulbs and must have some moisture about their roots much of the time. They do best in a minimum temperature of 65°, which places them in a warm classification, but they do not need the consistently high humidities ordinarily associated with warm orchids. As a result, they are good house and excellent greenhouse plants if you can maintain suitable temperatures for them. They must have summer and often winter shade, but they need as much light as they can stand in order to ripen growth and initiate flowers. Light is definitely the limiting factor in their flowering.

Pot aerides in osmunda, but don't try to confine all their roots to the compost—it just can't be done. They develop rambling aerial roots from the upper portions of their stems —a habit so often found in monopodials. Originally, such roots were produced in order to bind new growth to host trees and secondarily for acquiring moisture and food. Growers leave these roots on because they do pick up moisture and thus help keep plants happy.

Aerides tend to branch a bit in cultivation, a habit which gives them a pleasant, rounded appearance, but the lower stems eventually lose their leaves and become useless for flower production. The top growths usually are air layered, removed, and potted. The lower portions send out branching lateral stems and the cycle starts again. In a sense, you might say that aerides respond to discreet pruning.

ANOECTOCHILUS

Among orchids celebrated for beautiful flowers you would not expect to find foliage the loveliest portion of the plant. But one genus, anoectochilus (commonly called "Jewel Orchids"), have variegated foliage unequalled in any plant family. The leaves are either a deep olive green or purple, richly and intricately overtraced with a network of gold veining, or emerald green embellished with silver tracery. Anoectochilus has been grown for over a hundred years for its foliage alone by continental orchidists, who use the plants for table decorations beneath crystal bell glasses. They were once considered to be a necessary adjunct to a correctly laid table.

It is difficult to find anoectochilus in cultivation nowadays. The trouble is its fickle habits. If ever an orchid genus deserved the term "temperamental," it is anoectochilus. The plants require certain growth factors, and nothing else will do. They need high humidity and considerable warmth yet must have lots of fresh air. As a rule, they are grown in greenhouses—and often under bell jars to boot. It is this latter apparatus that throws hobbyists for a loss. The bell jar is necessary in order to prevent drafts—generally injurious to anoectochilus—and yet assure a gentle and continuous supply of air. The atmosphere must be close but never stale —a hard condition but well worth the attempt, for anoectochilus foliage is nothing short of sheer artistry.

Anoectochilus is an Old World genus from the definitely tropical islands between New Guinea and Japan. A few species grow in India, and several allied genera break down geographic limitations by spreading to Central America. The plants thrive only in areas that are uncomfortably hot for human beings. And to top that off, they take to shady glens and nooks where the air contains considerable moisture—usually the sort of place which seems to be a refuge from the sun, but which turns out to be more uncomfortable than open clearings.

Because of such cultural extremes, they require special treatment. They can't be grown as house plants, though they may be used for a few hours as table decorations. When used for this purpose, they are left under their bell glasses and are shifted back to the greenhouse as quickly as possible. They do best in temperatures between 60° and 70°, preferably the latter. Prolonged exposure to lower temperatures isn't good for them, and one strong, chilling draft will finish them off. However, you can make house plants of them in Wardian cases, or in bay windows that are separate from the house. Separation of such windows is necessary because the high humidity anoectochilus need would peel off wallpaper and make furniture uncomfortably wet.

Hard and fast rules on their culture are difficult to lay down, but the important points seem to be compost, drainage, and temperature. The compost may be osmunda, but is more likely to be equal parts of finely chopped osmunda and sphagnum well mixed together. The sphagnum creates a damper condition about their roots than osmunda affords; they need a continuously moist rooting medium, and their roots are not extensive and can safely be saturated often. For rapid drainage, use little compost; filling the top third of the pot should be sufficient.

Anoectochilus are propagated by cuttings. The stems are cut in small pieces, each having a leaf and a node with two eyes. One eye will initiate a new plant; the other will produce roots. When cuttings are about two inches high, they can be potted up. A mixture of half peat moss and half river sand is an excellent propagating medium. Be certain that cuttings are well shaded; in fact, old plants also must be protected from direct sunlight at all times.

Unless you wish to create awe among your friends and fellow-orchidists, hesitate before you grow anoectochilus. Despite their beautiful foliage, their lackadaisical response to culture forbids them to all but the most enthusiastic.

ANGRAECUM

Botanists have a habit of making up Latin names for plants, but occasionally they adopt native names. The name "angraecum" comes from Angrek, a Malayan term for orchids, yet angraecums are not found in Malaya but thousands of miles away. Half of them are natives of Madagascar, most of the rest are spread over tropical Africa, and one (Angraecum jalcatum) grows in Japan, over one-fourth of the earth's circumference away. Botanists to this day can't figure out how that one orchid could make such a tremendous jump from the family home.

The genus is divided into three groups and broken into twenty-five to sixty species, depending upon what system of classification is followed. Its claim to fame rests largely on the predominantly white flowers and the long spurs, which gave quite a boost to the fame of Charles Darwin. Angraecum sesquipedale with its twenty-four-inch spur came to Darwin's attention when he was investigating the methods by which insects pollinate orchids. He therefore advanced the hypothesis of a moth with a monstrous proboscis twenty-four inches long which extended into the spur to pick up nectar from the bottom. His English compatriots laughed at him, but after his death just such a moth was found in Madagascar. The genus is famous also for including one of the smallest orchids: Angraecum distichum is a tufted plant barely reaching an inch when mature.

Angraecums are evergreen monopodials that require the same cultural approach as aerides. They come from some of the hottest sections of the world and require the hottest treatment. In culture they are treated as warm orchids and are given continuous moisture and high humidity in active growth, though when at rest the compost should be dried out between waterings. They are potted in osmunda, which is changed as often as it begins to decompose. Their roots tend to ramble all over the place and can't be confined. Propagation is by air layering or by side shoots, which appear with remarkable persistence at the base of old plants. When a side shoot develops a root or two, simply snip it off and pot it.

CATASETUM

The flowers of this genus appeal to culturists for several reasons. They may have male, female, or bisexual flowers on the same plant; they shoot their pollen at insects which touch the horns which operate the plant's mechanical skeet shoot; finally, the flowers are bizarre in shape and color.

There are about fifty or sixty species in the genus, located chiefly in the Central American lowlands where the weather is very hot and humid the year round. The flowers are carried on spikes and racemes and are firm enough to last a long time when worn as corsages. There is no predominant color peculiar to the flowers. They may be white, green, yellow, brown, and purple—or variously marked with these colors. The plants are not easily adapted to window or house culture and shouldn't be removed from the greenhouse.

Although catasetums possess pseudobulbs and are propagated by division, they are prolific producers of aerial roots, a habit that makes them take up more room on a bench than they should. With a little attention, most of these roots can be confined to the osmunda. Old records allege that if pseudobulbs of catasetums are cut up and plopped into sand under shade and high humidity, new plants will be produced from the numerous dormant eyes concealed along the ring scars of old sheathing tissue. If you grow catasetums, you may find this worth investigating.

If you intend to go in for these curious botanicals, there are three conditions which you must keep in mind: they are definitely warm orchids, they require more direct light than many orchids, and after flowering, they take an extraordinarily long time before developing new growth. However, when growth does recommence, it springs up weed fast. During the period of so-called rest the plants need just enough water to keep the compost moist and the pseudo-bulbs plump. When in full growth they need lots of water, but let the compost become mildly dry before watering again. They require high humidity but syringing is inadvisable. Water lodging in the leaf axils frequently causes rots. This condition is often encountered with other warm orchids, so don't syringe unless you can break up the water into a very fine mist.

CHYSIS

This genus of deciduous epiphytes does not lose its foliage until the flowering season is over. The plants have rather interesting, slightly pendulous pseudobulbs (about a foot long) which are swollen around the central portions rather like a fat Havana cigar. Of the six species in the genus, scattered over a small area from Mexico to the most northerly section of South America, only one is in general cultivation: Chysis bractescens. It is a lovely plant with predominantly white flowers about three inches across and definitely or-chidy in shape. It bears no more than eight flowers to a stem, but their fragrance makes you think there are eighty more near by. Some of the other species, particularly Chysis aurea, have the unfortunate habit of pollenizing themselves immediately before the flowers open, and the flowers do not last more than a day or two.

Accordingly, the pollen of an opened flower looks like a fused mass, thus giving the genus its name, which means "melting." The custom of self-fertilization is not confined to chysis; many orchids are self-fertile, so be somewhat careful when you handle them. If you knock the pollen slightly back into the stigmatic concavity or if you unduly irritate the column near the stigmatic surface, the flowers of many orchids will collapse suddenly and dramatically at the end of twenty-four hours.

During their period of active growth, from November to May, chysis plants require warm treatment with plenty of moisture in the air and about the roots. After losing their foliage they need intermediate treatment and should be transferred to cooler and less humid quarters, where they are watered occasionally. It may be a bit troublesome to move plants about from one house to another, but when you have only a plant or two as a botanical curiosity, it is well worth the time.

Chysis probably would provide excellent window plants for warm eastern houses where furnaces are stoked at night to keep the chill out of rooms. In summer, when most orchids suffer from dry air, chysis plants are easy to care for; being somewhat dormant at that time, they do not suffer from the absence of atmospheric moisture.

They do well in pots of osmunda, but better in baskets where their roots have freedom to move about and the drainage is better suited to them. Some growers like to dust a bit of fine loam through the osmunda, a tribute to the semiterrestrial habit of chysis roots and their need, while actively growing, for more nutrients than osmunda contains. A well-balanced program of feeding with supplemental liquid fertilizers and nutrient solutions will keep them shipshape and the pseudobulbs growing. They are somewhat temperamental about checks to their growing and will fail to flower if the rapidly developing leads are temporarily stunted by too dry conditions. They are propagated by division.

COELOGYNE

Nearly every member of this genus deserves a spot in your collection, although all but two are known as botanicals. The flower colors are limited to a few bright shades (largely white, yellow, and brown), but they are combined in a breath-taking manner. Coelogyne pandu-rata, for example, has brilliant green sepals and petals, but the lip is blotched and veined with a dense, opaque black, a color singularly rare in the plant world. The four-inch flowers dangle from the raceme, and growers liken them to small green frogs with their tongues sticking out.

There are about 115 species abundantly located in the relatively small area including Ceylon, northern India, bits of China, and the islands of the Indian Ocean. Offhand this would seem to make them definitely tropical orchids requiring warm treatment, but the majority are found in the Indian Himalayas around Sikkim at an elevation of 7,000 feet. That makes them eligible for cool classification and for consideration as house and window plants. Their foliage is evergreen and is good for house decoration, although some species have pseudobulbs which ramble. The flowers are produced somewhat irregularly in many cases, blooming at odd seasons of the year. However, all but a half-dozen species probably will bloom in spring or summer.

Because coelogynes inhabit two distinct geographical and climatic areas, their culture is broken down accordingly. They are found largely in the high, cool valleys of the Himalayas or along the Malay Archipelago in warm, moist, shady places close to streams.

You may not know where a plant comes from, but you often can make an accurate guess by its appearance and thereby determine its cultural tolerances. If the pseudo-bulbs are hard and the foliage leathery, the chances are it is a mountain denizen and requires cool or intermediate treatment. If the pseudobulbs and foliage are light green, smooth, and glossy, they are most likely to be natives of Malaya or the Indian Ocean islands and to require moderately warm treatment. Most of the species, however, will do extraordinarily well if casually grown with cattleyas and laelias as intermediate orchids; it is an extremely adaptable genus.

Although they are inclined to be terrestrial and are often found in and near large deposits of dead vegetation, coelogynes are usually grown in osmunda. Pot the os-munda firmly, filling not more than the top half of the pot. Coelogynes are accustomed to lots of water in their native habitat, but in culture they are nearly as water-intolerant as cattleyas. They need more water than cattleyas, but also require a drying-out process between waterings. This should never be long enough to shrivel pseudobulbs, although pseudobulbs will tend to wrinkle slightly after blooming, no matter what you do. Don't worry about that, because when vegetative growth recommences the pseudobulbs quickly plump up again. Be careful about getting water on new leads; flower spikes usually are produced from the center of young growths and water lodging there may rot incipient flower stems.

In spite of their cultural adaptability, try to grow coelogynes under the correct conditions prescribed for them. The warm species, such as Coelogyne pandurata and Coelogyne dayana, are grown under a minimum temperature of 60°, plenty of atmospheric moisture, semishade, and good ventilation. Intermediate and cool coelogynes will stand temperatures as low as 32°, need plenty of light, and can take low humidity. In fact Coelogyne cristata and its varieties, whose white flowers are among the loveliest and whitest in the orchid tribe, benefit from being outdoors under lath during late spring and summer. The fresh air seems to harden the pseudobulbs and to ripen them for winter flowering.

Because of their terrestrial tendencies, coelogynes are benefited by a well-planned and regular program of feeding. They respond well to weak applications of manure water and profit from the balancing effect of occasional nutrient solutions. They are propagated by division, usually by removing the first three leading pseudobulbs as soon as they ramble off the pots. Try not to disturb coe-logynes by repotting too frequently. The best flowers are developed on plants that crowd their pots. This is particularly true of Coelogyne cristata. Pot it up, put it in a window, and then try to forget about it except for its minimum requirements. That is why it makes such a wonderful window plant. Indeed, though all the coe-logynes are suggested for investigation and possible culture, Coelogyne cristata is recommended as a plant house guest.

COLAX

The name "Colax" is Greek for "parasite"—indicating the errors of early gardeners who persisted in believing that orchids were parasites. Actually, Colaxes are semi-epiphytal, occasionally terrestrial, and consist of two species—both from Brazil, somewhere near Rio de Janeiro in the coastal mountains. The pseudobulbs are two or three inches high and the foliage is about ten inches tall. The flower stem is produced from the base of the new shoot, generally before it stops growing, and bears up to four nearly white flowers which are two or three inches across. Colaxes are hardy to 28° and have resisted frost, but they are harmed by snow. They are grown in pots as terrestrials and can stand more shade than other orchids; however, strong and diffused sunlight is necessary in early spring to induce flower formation. They require no more watering than a thorough soaking each time the pot becomes dry. Syringe them as you think of it on warm days; and make it a necessity on hot days. Otherwise, don't bother them if you can keep them cool and moist. Propagate them by division. Because of their small foliage and their adaptability, Colaxes are particularly suitable for house plants or for growing in shaded garden nooks. It is not wise, though, to naturalize them; leave them in pots which are sunk into the soil.

CYCNOCHES

The flowers of this genus make it one of the most curious in the orchid tribe. The column turns back on itself much in the manner of a swan's neck, the sepals and petals folding together like a swan's body and wings—characteristics which suggested the name, "Swan Orchid." Cyc-noches also have the weird ability of producing three kinds of flowers, bisexual ones as well as either male or female. This confused early scientists, who called cycnoches "sports" and described the phenomena as an "inexplicable puzzle." Dr. Lindley wrote of this genus that it "shakes . the foundations of all our ideas of stability!" And later, William Watson described Cycnoches ventricosum for his readers: "At one time it produces large green flowers . . . and at another bears small blackish flowers. . . . On occasions ... these flowers [are] produced on the same spike." Though few people then believed Mr. Watson, today we know the phenomenon simply as an adaptation that many plants, such as holly, make to their environment.

A dozen species are included in the genus, which is distributed in local colonies from Central America to Venezuela, in low, hot, inland sections. They have pseudobulbs and are deciduous and epiphytic. Certain to produce six or eight flowers each year, it is sometimes a toss-up whether they will be female flowers or male flowers, which are somewhat smaller than female. The colors are likely to be an odd shade of tawny green marked with white, brown, lurid purple, or yellow. Only three species are normally found in cultivation, as botanical curiosities, although Cycnoches chlorochilon has as graceful a shape as any orchid in commerce. Its flowers often reach six inches across.

Cycnoches are cultivated as warm orchids, responding to the same treatment as catasetums. They can be cultivated in closed-off windows and can stand less humidity, but need more water, than catasetums. Use care in syringing them, as water left in the leaf axils overnight is a deliberate invitation to bacterial rots.

CYRTOPODIUM

One member of this genus, Cyrtopodium punctatum, is a native of Florida, a fact which immediately endears it to American hobbyists. It is also found as far south as Paraguay and at intervals between these two extremes. The three or four species which make up the total genus are remarkably robust in habit and growth. The plants are large, taking up more room than is warranted by their numerous two-inch flowers, often a hundred to a stem. Some of the pseudobulbs are said to attain five feet in height. The flowers of the two species most commonly grown, Cyrtopodium punctatum and Cyrtopodium an-dersonii, are a brilliant chrome or rich tawny yellow barred with chocolate brown. They are truly spectacular when in flower.

Coming from tropical lowlands, cyrtopodiums are usually treated in cultivation as warm orchids when actively growing, as cool when at rest. Lately, however, this temperature recommendation—nearly as old as the history of orchid growing—has been questioned by growers and amateurs in the Pacific Southwest. Cyrtopodium punctatum has succeeded admirably when grown under continuously cool conditions and has weathered several degrees of frost as a lath-house subject. It's a bit sensitive to frost, though, sometimes getting by all right and sometimes not. So grow it outdoors as a summer plant, indoors during winter in extra-large windows or a special place in a greenhouse where it can grow out of bounds if it pleases. It will flower steadily, year after year, under these conditions. But its cousin, Cyrtopodium andersonii, does not do well unless kept in a greenhouse where it has adequate humidity and warmth. Both species need plenty of sunlight. That seems to be the limiting factor in forcing them to flower. Watch the color of their foliage and increase light to the limit of their tolerances.

Plain, friable loam is a good compost for cyrtopodiums. In fact, they have been grown as bedding plants among azaleas, fuchsias, and camellias without any further soil preparation than is necessary for the health of these shrubby perennials—an experiment more interesting than significant. All cyrtopodiums will do well in large pots half filled with equal parts of leaf mold, loam, and gravel, with a dash of old, ground manure tossed in to add zest to the mixture. Of course, as always recommended, a mixture of leafmold and gravel is the safest. The best compromise between custom and wisdom is to provide them with a soft, terrestrial compost and to feed them often and mildly with liquid fertilizer stimulants.

Water cyrtopodiums well, copiously, and always before the compost becomes too dry. Don't let the pseudobulbs shrivel from lack of water, but don't rot their roots with too much water applied too continuously. Water in the compost and water on the foliage on clear bright days is necessary to their health. But both can be overdone. Hose the foliage if you keep the plants outdoors, but syringe them carefully when you keep them in a greenhouse or bay window.

After you've grown cyrtopodiums long enough to have a large pseudobulb or two that isn't necessary to the health of your plants, try out an old utilitarian recipe used by the natives of the Saint Vincent Islands. They cut the pseudobulbs into small pieces and put them into a kettle with enough water to cover them. The water is brought to a boil and then simmered gently for several hours until the bulbs are reduced to a thick, gooey mass. This is squeezed through thin muslin and the clear liquid stored in well-stoppered bottles. When children scuff their shoes, it is used as a paste to repair them. Cobblers use it as a glue to bind separate pieces of leather.

PHAIUS

There are two things to recommend phaiuses: extraordinary simplicity of culture, and lovely flowers. In subtropical areas they could be as common as oranges and in colder regions as well known as fibrous begonias. That they aren't is due to the continuously erroneous publicity most orchids have received. Most phaius species come from areas in China, Japan, and India where the climate is remarkably similar to many areas in the United States. You can grow them without trouble any place that you can grow palms.

The name "phaius" means "dark," in reference to their flowers, although only the botanist who christened them knows why. The flowers are anything but dark, being terrifically showy, with odd combinations of yellow, white, coppery red and a few other colors tossed in for good measure. In size the flowers may be up to four inches across; in quantity there may be twenty flowers to a stem, though twelve flowers are more customary. Phaiuses are excellent foliage plants with plicated, wide leaves and are easily grown to specimen size. While they are tall (often three feet or more), they are compact and don't take up more room than you can afford to give them in a greenhouse or living-room window. They resemble calanthes, to which they are allied, but have larger and showier flowers and more persistent foliage.

Culturally, the twenty or so known species of phaius are broken down into two divisions and three classes. There are, first, epiphytes (warm orchids) which often aren't worth a second thought owing to cultural difficulties; and terrestrials (warm, intermediate, and cool), which are lovely and easier to grow—their requirements have been known since 1778 when Phaius grandifolius was introduced to Europe. The three classes are determined by their geographical limitations: those from Madagascar (Phaius humboldtii), are not always worth the trouble it would take to grow them. Those from Asia (Phaius cooperii) are more accommodating and grown in intermediate temperatures. Those from the higher altitudes and cool climates of China, upper India, and Australia (Phaius grandifolius) are as decorative as they are hardy.

In general, you will be able to obtain only the sturdier terrestrials, which is all right. You will be able to find some place in your house to winter them and some spot in your garden to summer them. With just a modicum of attention they will bloom heavily for you; indeed, they have the happy facility of suckering freely about the base of the pseudobulbs and a single plant will overflow its pot in a year or two. They are one of the few orchids which must be pruned or thinned into shape.

Provide cool phaius with a temperature that doesn't drop too frequently below 45°. High temperatures are not injurious if the plants are well shaded in cool, somewhat moist locations. In fact, keep them outdoors in semishade to full shade as long as the temperature remains at 60°, particularly during their growing period. Some warmth is necessary then. They can withstand full shade but won't flower as well under that condition. Their humidity requirement is something of a puzzle. They benefit by it, but don't seem to need it as long as water is freely accessible to their root systems. Dry air, however, should be avoided as much as possible. Keep trays of moist gravel under the plants in windows. Keep the ground around them outdoors as moist as possible, but don't soak it. In greenhouses hose the floors thoroughly. Whatever means you use to create humidity, do not syringe the foliage. Phaius can't stand it. Their foliage is highly watersensitive in cultivation and is quickly damaged if wet. However, on bright, hot days a light water mist drifted over the foliage may be necessary and beneficial if the foliage dries before evening. Never let the plants want for water at their roots. Give them copious supplies when actively growing, less when not, but never permit them to dry out. Keep the pseudobulbs plump and the foliage from withering. The plants aren't at rest or dormant just because they aren't initiating new flowering growths. Indeed, many indoor and greenhouse gardeners like the foliage better than the flowers for its luxurious and tropical appearance.

Terrestrial phaius are usually found in swampy soils where they can secure abundant food. They are customarily potted in composts of equal parts of leafmold, loam, and ground manure. Nothing, however, succeeds as well with them as leafmold and fine gravel in equal parts. The plants are sensitive to poor drainage, and unless you are a careful and experienced hand at watering, a heavy compost is difficult to drain. Give them a shot in the arm once a month with a mild solution of liquid manure. Pots are kept as small as possible, because phaius look better in them, though they take to overpotting with more success than most orchids. Some orchidists repot them each year as new leads appear, particularly when grown in composts mixed with manure. Leafmold and gravel mixtures don't decay as rapidly, and the plants can stay in them for several years with definite root improvement. Let their roots get pot-bound and flower production is improved.

Most phaius respond easily to two methods of propagation: division or cutting. Ordinarily they are divided, about three pseudobulbs to a clump, after flowering and before growth begins again. Cuttings are made from the old flower stems, so don't throw them away after the flowers wither. Cut the stems into six-inch pieces, each with two or more nodes. Place the cuttings on moist sand and keep them warm, humid, and shaded. Plantlets develop from the nodes. As soon as the plantlets are two inches high, with sturdy roots, snip them off and pot. Better yet, pot both the plantlets and stems together and carry the plantlets under higher temperatures and humidity than you would carry adult plants until they make their first small pseudobulbs. It would be interesting to experiment with rooting hormones on phaius cuttings. They should develop as readily as do deciduous dendro-biums and some phalaenopses.

There is still another method of propagation which for lack of a better term may be called "slipping." It is not always successful, but is well to know about in case of necessity. When you get around to thinning out the new growths at the base of phaius plants, wait until each growth has developed a root collar, then snip it off, pot it in equal parts of peat moss and sand, and carry it under high humidity and considerable warmth. Some will grow and some won't, but you'll end up with a few more plants which you can swap for other orchids you may want.

Phaius grandifolius is the choicest species with which to begin your education concerning this genus. It takes well to house culture, is at home in windows, outdoors, or in greenhouses. Indeed, it has been a house plant in Europe since 1800. It looks well in small pots and doesn't get out of bounds too rapidly like Phaius sanderiana, which throws a seven-foot flower spike. It overwinters inclement weather better than most other species. Some of the thirty or so hybrid phaiuses are worth the time it may take you to search them out. Phaius cooL·onii, for example, though grown as an intermediate orchid in culture, has the happy faculty of initiating four flower spikes from the same pseudobulb, each stem bearing up to thirty flowers. Grow it with cattleyas; the two will get along famously.

SCHOMBURGKIA

A little more than 100 years ago Dr. Richard Schom-burgk traveled as a naturalist with his brother Sir Robert, who was in charge of the boundary expedition to British Guiana. The purpose of the mission was to determine once and for all the claims, counterclaims, and allegations of the Dutch and Latin-American nationals as to exactly what constituted the boundaries of British Guiana. And as with so many similar expeditions, posterity forgot about its original purpose, but Dr. Schomburgk lives on forever because he found a species of a new genus of orchid which was later christened in botanical literature as Schomburgkia crispa—a very handsome orchid.

In fact, all the schomburgkias are handsome and striking although limited to about twelve species scattered through portions of Central America and upper South America. In appearance their flowers resemble laelias, to which they are allied and with which they have been crossed, although the issue has not been promising. The flowers are not often wider than two and one-half inches, but are carried on tall scapes holding anywhere from ten to twenty in a loose cluster. The flowers are attractive in shape, open, and run toward modest yellows, pale lilac, and subtle brownish-reds. The prettiest of all, Schomburgkia lyonsii, has white flowers spotted with purple dots, but is rarely seen in cultivation.

Schomburgkias naturally fall into two cultural classifications: intermediate (Schomburgkia humboldtii, from the lowlands), and cool (Schomburgkia tibicinus, from the mountains). Both, however, may be cultivated as inter mediates and may be grown with cattleyas under identical cultural conditions. However, they take up too much room, and they bloom irregularly and uncertainly through the year.

The plants are quite large, some bloom spikes being thrown up to ten feet, and the pseudobulbs are sometimes two or three feet tall with rather thick bases. Often a small hole is found at the bottom of pseudobulbs through which insects pass into the hollow interiors and establish homes.

The reason for schomburgkias blooming irregularly is not definitely known, but indications seem to point toward a poor correlation between light and temperature in cultivation. Several scientists have suggested an as yet unknown combination of factors which influences their blooming habits much as other strange factors influence the flowering of bamboo every twenty or forty years. Cool schomburgkias grown as lath-house subjects in Florida and the Pacific Southwest seem to have a more regular schedule of blooming than control plants placed in greenhouses under supposedly ideal conditions. It seems likely that cool schomburgkias need more light, colder temperatures, and more fresh air than previously have been given them. In any event, irregularity of bloom is sometimes interesting. It's always agreeable to have orchids bloom at odd times of the year when you don't expect it.

In their native countries schomburgkias are likely to be found on the upper branches of tall trees, fully exposed to sun, wind, and rain. Their culture under artificial conditions, therefore, is similar. They are potted in osmunda, in large pots, and exposed to more sunlight than cattleyas and laelias can stand. During winter in the southern states they may be exposed to nearly complete sunlight without being injured. Their water requirements are similar to those of cattleyas except that cool schomburgkias must be watered with a good deal more care and attention. They don't need so much water as their large size seems to imply. Give them barely enough to moisten the osmunda, and then let them dry out thoroughly. Their humidity requirement is surprisingly low; they may be hosed, syringed, or sprayed without danger to the foliage. When grown outdoors a good syringing on hot days is highly desirable if care is taken to prevent too much water from spilling down about the roots. Contrary to previous rules, they are one of the few orchids that may be allowed to ramble over the sides of pots. Don't ever repot them unless you are positive the osmunda is absolutely no good; they don't like being disturbed.

ZYGOPETALUM

Horticulturists who say that there is a plant for every purpose and for every pocketbook might well have Zygo· petalum mackayi in mind. Brought from Brazil in 1826 to Dublin's Trinity College gardens, it has continuously supplied to orchidists a cheaply priced plant, vigorous in growth, compact in foliage, with spikes of ten to twenty predominantly blue flowers—the rarest color in the plant kingdom—about three inches wide and curiously flattened. Zygopetalum blooms at Christmastime and has one of the most pleasing fragrances in the world of plants. It is one of the best of all orchids with which to end this chapter.

Zygopetalums are native to tropical America. Localized in mountains from Ecuador to Brazil, they are usually found in the slightly warmer areas but contrarily are grown in culture as cool orchids. Most of the fifty species of the genus are reasonably easy to grow but many of them rarely flower under artificial conditions. Other than Zygopetalum mackayi they are no longer grown. Zygopetalum gautière, for example, is found only on the stems of tree ferns, which apparently provide it with some essential condition not available to it in cultivation.

For Zygopetalum mackayi, most growers recommend a minimum winter temperature of 60° and a summer temperature that is as cool as possible. This is a wise precaution for commercial cut-flower production, but not a strict limitation. Amateurs have grown Zygopetalum mackayi outdoors for many years exposed to temperatures as low as 32°. This species is remarkably resistant to frost and is more readily injured by high temperatures than by low.

The plant is not sensitive to low humidity except when the thermometer reaches 80° or higher and stays there. Ample ventilation is important.

All zygopetalums are considered to be epiphytic in habit but are grown as terrestrials. Zygopetalum mackayi has large, fleshy, strong roots similar to those of cymbidiums, with which it is often grown. Use leafmold and decomposed granite for a compost, and repot each year. Vigorous new root action is the clue to the correct time for repotting. Keep the pseudobulbs well above the rim of the pots and slope the compost. Firm the compost well, but don't pack it, for packing may injure the fleshy roots.

Water is applied to Zygopetalum mackayi as often as the compost begins to dry out. The compost must always be slightly moist to prevent the fleshy roots from dehydrating and shriveling; once shriveled, they won't function again. Place Zygopetalum mackayi outdoors in a slightly shaded location for as much of the year as possible. Hose the plants down as often as the weather warrants; syringe them after you bring them indoors. They need to be reasonably cool. Slugs, thrips, and scale find the plants tantalizingly edible. Avoid letting water remain too long on young shoots; soon after the leaves unfold they quickly harden and become resistant to water damage.

Under reasonable care Zygopetalum mackayi grows rapidly and forms large clumps of egglike pseudobulbs, from which the compact, evergreen foliage is developed. Large plants may be all right for outdoors and in greenhouses, but they are unwieldy in windows. Divide the pseudobulbs, leaving about three to a clump, and pot them in the smallest possible pot. Zygopetalum mackayi then becomes a very attractive addition to southern windows where it receives a goodly portion of the day's sunlight. It is the last on your list of recommended plant house guests.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...