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Orchids Home
01. About Orchids
02. What Are Orchids?
03. Rules Of Orchid
04. Home Orchids
05. Greenhouses
06. The Garden
07. Greenhouses
08. Composts
09. Potting
10. Seed Germination
11. Propagation
12. Watering
13. Nutrition
14. Pests
15. Select Orchids
16. Bletia
17. Calanthe
18. Cattleya
19. Cymbidium
20. Cypripedium
21. Dendrobium
22. Disa
23. Epidendrum
24. Laelia
25. Lycaste
26. Odontoglossum
27. Oncidium
28. Phalaenopsis
29. Quaint Orchids
30. Special Purposes
31. Descriptive Tables
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| Chapter - 30 |
| Orchids For Special Purposes |
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It is harder to select orchids for your beginning collection than it is to grow them. While growing orchids is a feat of memory aided by experience and common sense, selection requires long association with orchids and long evenings spent studying orchid catalogues. The special lists in this chapter have been compiled as a guide in selecting orchids. One or more of the groups which follow should stimulate in you the reaction: "These are the plants for me!" Whether you wish to specialize or to generalize, these lists will help you move along an old gardening path into a new world of pleasure.
You will find, as you progress through these lists, and the tables in the next chapter, that some orchids are carried at higher temperatures here than suggested earlier. This is not a contradiction; it is a fair attempt to introduce you to the most acceptable standards in general use, and then to encourage you to use common sense in following the experiences of other growers who have succeeded in rearing orchids at lower temperature levels, and in less imposing structures than greenhouses, necessary and valuable as greenhouses are.
FRAGRANT ORCHIDSFew people have made a hobby of fragrant plants. Most of us accept pleasing odors in plants as a matter of course. As a hobby this field is wide open—and extensive. Its only drawback where fragrant orchids are concerned would be finding your home or greenhouse overpoweringly perfumed—which is exactly what would happen, for many orchids have the most powerful and lasting fragrances in the plant world. Their perfumes are heavy, unusual, or exotic. They seem to fill the air of your rooms with the mysteries of the Far East or the enchantments of sundrenched tropical lands.
Most of the scent comparisons listed here are accurate, but some are necessarily approximate. Certain fragrances are tantalizing in their ability to escape identification, and are subject to as many interpretations as there are individuals who have encountered them. Additional pleasantly fragrant orchids appear in the chart in the next chapter, though their scents have not been described.
TYPE OF FRAGRANCE NAME OF ORCHID SPECIESAllspice Gongora atropurpurea
Angelica Epidendrum umbellatum
Aniseed Epidendrum anisatum
Chemist shop Stanhopea grandifiora
Cinnamon Lycaste aromatica
Citron Rodriguezia Candida
Coconut milk Bulbophylum comosum
Hawthorn Odontoglossum constrictum
Honey Cycnoches loddigesii
Hyacinth Odontoglossum pulchellum
Lemon Brassocattleya mantou
Musk Dendrobium moshcatum
Newmown hay Oncidium ornithorynchum
Platyclinis glumacea
Noyeau Maxillaria crassifolia
Pomatum Aerides odoratum
Primrose Laelia albida
Rhubarb Dendrobium macrophyllum
Violet Epidendrum ionosmum
Maxillaria atropurpurea
Wallflower Gongora galeata
Acropera loddigesii
ORCHIDS FRAGRANT ONLY AT NIGHT
Epidendrum nocturnum
Brassavola grandiflora
ORCHIDS THAT CHANGE THEIR FRAGRANCES
Primrose (morning) Honey (noon) Grass (evening) Dendrobium nobile
Pleasant by day Unpleasant by night Orchis mascula
ORCHIDS WITH OFFENSIVE ODORS
The following few orchids produce some of the foulest odors known. They should not be grown: The odors are unendurable, and often similar to the stench of rotten meat; and the flowers have no beauty.
There are stories, probably fables, that plant hunters have been overcome by the odors. It is a fact that no native in Borneo, where so many of the orchids are found, will go near them. These orchids are named here to make the lists complete and for your warning.
Bulbophyllum careyanum
Bulbophyllum densiflorum
Bulbophyllum neilgherrense
Bulbophyllum sicyobulbon
Bulbophyllum beccari
Masdevalia vilifera
Orchis hircine
DECORATIVE FOLIAGE
In any garden a background of foliage is needed to give color between blooming seasons. Unfortunately, lovely foliage is not often produced by orchids. There are few which can serve as background plants when out of bloom. Fewer still whose foliage is in itself attractive. Other than some cypripediums and phalaenopsis, good foliage orchids have very poor flowers.
DESCRIPTION OF FOLIAGE NAME OF SPECIESSilver and gold veining on Anoectochilus in variety
green and purple leaves
Leaves marbled, grey above, Warm Asiatic cypripediums
purplish beneath, or vari- in variety
ously tesselated
Green leaves veined with Goodyera in variety
white
Bronze-colored foliage Microstylis josephiana
Green foliage mottled with Microstylis macrochila
cream and brown
Metallic purple and rose Microstylis metallica
foliage
Metallic crimson and red- Microstylis purpurea
dish-grey foliage
Leaves marbled and Phalaenopsis schilleriana
blotched with grey above, Phalaenopsis stuartiana
purplish-red beneath
As explained earlier, most orchids carry their flowers upside down, and in this position their extravagantly gaudy lips are given the importance they deserve. However, some orchids don't need such gay embellishments with which to tempt insects, and their flowers have never acquired the strange facility of twisting on their pedicles. They carry their flowers erect as do more commonly known garden plants. Two of these erect orchids (disa and lycaste) are exquisite, and no other reason is needed for growing them; the others are primarily collectors' items.
Disa uniflora
Disa racemosa
Epidendrum cochleatum
Epidendrum radicans
Lycaste (in variety)
Malax is paludosa
Maxillaria (in variety)
There is not always a close similarity between a common orchid name and the insect or object the flower is supposed to resemble. However, without stretching your imagination too far the basic resemblance often exists. In only a few cases is the name purely fanciful. The Looking Glass Orchid was named for an alleged likeness to an ornately decorated Victorian hand mirror. In some orchids the likeness may be startling. The Bee Orchid of the Mediterranean region is a close imitation of the bee that effects its pollination. The following orchids are like nothing you've ever seen in the plant kingdom and offer some unusual resemblances.
COMMON NAME OF ORCHID NAME OF SPECIESBee Ophrys apifera
Bird's Nest Neottia nidus-avis
Butterfly Oncidium papilio
Habenaria conopsea
Epidendrum venosum
Cranefly Tipularia discolor
Ðeadman's Fingers Habenaria bifolia
Dove Peristeria elata
Fly Ophrys muscifera
Frog Oncidium raniferum
Peristylis viridis
Letter Plant Grammatophyllum speciosum
Lizard Orchis hircina
Looking Glass Ophrys speculum
Monkey Orchis macra
Moth Phalaenopsis amabalis
Rattlesnake Goodyera pubescens
Sawfly Ophrys tenthredinifera
Spider Ophrys aranifera
Swan Cycnoches ventricosum
Toad Megaclinium bufo
The term "heteromorphic" means that some orchids have the ability to produce two or more different kinds of flowers on the same stem or plant. Usually the flowers will be all male at one time, all female at another season. Occasionally a stem contains both genders or produces bisexual flowers with combined organs of reproduction. Each type of flower is distinct from the others in shape and in color.
These orchids are collectors' items and sometimes fall into difficult growing classifications. They are historic and they show why botanists of an earlier day were confused by these orchids which changed their flower faces without notice. No one is certain why these orchids change their faces. What stimulus causes it? Here is a problem becKMning the scientific researcher.
Catasetum (in variety)
Cycnoches loddigesii
Cycnoches warscewiczii
Renanthera lowii
These orchids aren't beautiful in the customary manner of orchids—they are strange and weird. Their colors are lovely and their fragrance delightful, but their shapes are incredible. William Watson, writing of Masdevalia chi-maera, quoted Dr. Reichenback as saying: "No name more applicable could be found for it than that of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna [Chimaera], which had the body of a goat, the head of a lion, and the tail of a dragon, and which vomited forth flames of fire." More calmly described, Masdevalia chimaera is a terrestrial orchid with erect, brilliant flowers and streaming, tail-like appendages. It is fascinating enough for strong-willed men to have fallen for it and collected it exclusively and passionately. One of them, the Marquess of Lothian, published a book extolling the virtues of masdevalias.
DESCRIPTION NAME OF SPECIESSpurred flowers Angraecum sesquipedale
(and others in variety)
Octopus-like tendrils on
petals Masdevalia (in variety)
Elongating sepals Cypripedium caudatum
(phragmipedium)
Beauty is not the only purpose of orchids; some of them have been used as food, drink, or drugs. But, although the following list has been compiled from hundreds of sources, its meagerness is highly suggestive that orchids are not useful commodities. Only seventeen useful kinds of orchids out of more than 16,000 is an extremely poor average. One orchid, vanilla, has an international market. Another product, salep, is peculiarly confined to insignificant orchids of the Old World. Some South American Indians make a salad of orchid flowers. At Cornell University orchid flowers have been served at tea, in sandwiches which were considered very nice. All other utilitarian orchids are purely local in their uses, or their usefulness has been questioned and possibly disproved.
It is not recommended that you test the food or medicinal value of these orchids; you are more likely to injure your stomach than to please it. However, they do make excellent conversation-pieces; and several have rather good flowers.
USES OF ORCHIDS NAME OF SPECIESAntispasmodic Cypripedium pubescens
Aphrodisiac Cypripedium acaule
Spìranthes autumnalis
Bourbon tea (stimulates
digestion) Angraecum fragrans
Cement Aplectrum hyemale
Chewed to prevent thirst Maxillaria bicolor
Diuretic Spiranthes diuretica
Dysentery Gymnadenia conopsea
Food (boiled like potatoes) Gastrodia sesamoides
Glue Catasetum (in variety)
Rheumatism Epipactis latifolia
Salad (flowers only) Cattleya trianae
Salep Eulophia (in variety)
Habenaria (in variety)
Orchis mascula
Orchis militaris
Orchis morios
Vanilla Vanilla planifolia
Some people go in for collecting minute curios. Why not miniature plants? There are orchids which when full grown barely reach the stature of an inch, others that do not exceed five inches. Their cost is little compared to that of miniature furniture. Smallness in stature should not be confused with smallness in flowers, although this is frequently true. Dendrobium aggregatum rarely gets higher than three inches, but its seven or more yellow flowers are an inch and a half across. Laelia majalis may reach only five inches in height, but usually puts out a six-inch flower.
With miniature orchids you may live in a small apartment and come up with a choice collection that would do credit to a large and impressive greenhouse. But little is known about the cultural requirements of many miniature orchids, so you'll have to harden yourself to a period of trial and error. In general, species possessing pseudobulbs are recommended.
The major difficulty in making a collection of minuscule orchids is largely in trying to find them. If you want the very smallest ones known—those whose vegetative portions don't exceed two inches—you may not find them in cultivation. You will have to hunt through horticultural encyclopedias, find out their habitats, and then write a letter to the local botanical museum or botanical garden, who can tell you what is available and give you a pretty good idea of where to write for the plants you want. On the other hand, if you keep your selections to the larger members of the miniature-orchid group—those about five inches tall when adult—you will fare better; many of them are in general cultivation, particularly if the flowers are handsome.
NAME OF SPECIES SIZE IN INCHES
Angraecum articulatum 3-5
Angraecum distichum 1-2
Angraecum falcatum 3-5
Anoectochilus (in variety) 3-10
Bulbophyllum barbigerum 3-5
Bulbophyllum macranthum 4-7
Cirrhopetalum (in variety) 3-10
Coelogyne odoratissima 2-4
Comparettia (in variety) 5-6
Cypripedium (in variety) 4-10
Dendrobium bellatulum 2-3
Dendrobium loddigesii 3-6
Epidendrum bracteaturn 4-8
Epidendrum umbellatum 4-9
Laelia majalis (Syn. grandißora) 6-7
Laelia pumila 4-6
Lockhartia (in variety) 4-9
Lycaste aromatica 3-5
Lycaste cruenta 3-6
Masdevalia auropurpurea 2-3
Masdevalia o'brieniana 2-3
Maxillaria Candida 6-9
Maxillaria sanderiana 8-9
Microstylis (in variety) 6-9
Miltonia anceps 6-8
Miltonia spectabilis 8-10
Odontoglossum cervantesii 4-6
Odontoglossum krameri 5-6
Odontoglossum rossii 5-6
Oncidium cucullatum 5-8
Oncidium dasystyle ... 6-7
Oncidium longipes 5-6
Ornithocephalus (in variety) 3-6
Paphinia (in variety) 6-8
Phalaenopsis luedemanniana 4-6
Phalaenopsis parishii 4-6
Platyclinis cornata 3-4
Pleione hookeriana 5-6
Pleurothalis (in variety) ½-9
Restrepia antennifera 4-6
Restrepia pandurata 3-5
Rodriguezia (in variety) 4-6
Saccolabium bellinum 3-6
Saccolabium calceolare 2-6
Sophronitis (in variety) 2-5
Trichocentrum (in variety) 3-6
One of the most difficult things to do is to determine the orchids best fitted for you to cut your teeth on if you want a general collection of the larger-flowered species. There is such a variety of orchids, such a discrepancy at times in their culture, that you are hard put to know where to begin. The following list of orchids might well be called "grammar-school" plants. They are inexpensive (you can lose a few of them while you are acquiring experience), they are readily available in most nurseries selling orchids, and they are floriferous and lovely. These are the "starter" plants which will give you the sturdiest orchids possible without sacrificing beauty.
When you have succeeded in growing these orchids, you may try your hand at the lovely hybrids and the more delicate warm orchids. Of course, now and later, you may stub your toes; nothing is so certain in orchid culture as occasional contrary plants about which you can't seem to do a thing. Most of the time, though, plants are contrary because you haven't followed their cultural requirements.
1. Cool Orchids
Angraecum falcatum
Bletia hyacinthine
Calanthe vestita
Coelogyne cristata
Coelogyne mooreana
Cymbidium (in variety)
Cypripedium insigne
Cypripedium spicerianum
Cypripedium villosum
Dendrobium super bum
Dendrobium infundibulum
Disa grandiflora
Epidendrum cochleatum
Epidendrum o'brienianum
Epidendrum tampense
Epidendrum vitellinum
Laelia anceps
Laelia autumnalis
Laelia majalis
Lycaste aromatica
Lycaste skinneri
Odontoglossum citrosmum
Odontoglossum bictoniense
Odontoglossum grande
Oncidium cavendishianum
Oncidium crispum
Oncidium leuchochilum
Oncidium tigrinum
Oncidium varicosum
Sophronitis grandiflora
Sophronitis violacea
Zygopetalum mackayi
2. Intermediate Orchids
Cattleya amethystoglossa
Cattleya bicolor
Cattleya bowringiana
Cattleya dowiana
Cattleya gaskelliana
Cattleya gigas
Cattleya labiata
Cattleya loddigesii
Cattleya mendelii
Cattleya mossiae
Cattleya percivaliana
Cattleya schroederae
Cattleya skinneri
Cattleya trianae
Cattleya warneri
Chysis bractescens
Cyrtopodium punctatum
Dendrobium chrysotoxum
Dendrobium moschatum
Dendrobium nobile
Epidendrum atro-purpureum
Epidendrum prismatocarpum
Laelia grandis
Laelia purpurata
Oncidium altissimum
Oncidium sphaecelatum
Peristeria elata
Phaius grandifolius
Phaius wallichi
Schomburgkia tibicinis
3. Warm Orchids
Aerides crassifolium Oncidium luridum
Aerides odoratum Oncidium papilio
Angraecum sesquipedale Phalaenopsis amabalis
Cycnoches chlorochilon Phalaenopsis aphrodite
Cypripedium bellatulum Phalaenopsis luedemanniana
Cypripedium concolor Phalaenopsis schilleriana
Cypripedium lawrenceanum Phalaenopsis stuartiana
Cypripedium niveum Vanda coerulea
Dendrobium dearei Vanda sanderiana
Dendrobium phalaenopsis Vanda suavis
Vanda tricolor
If you wish, you may put all your orchid eggs in one basket and have every plant bloom at once in a sudden burst of gay flowers. Some people like such an effect, but the best way to grow orchids is to have something in bloom all the time, though it may only be a single plant. It keeps up your interest and is always a good conversation piece when friends drop in to see what's new with you.
You may turn to the next chapter and select your own chronological list if you wish; however, here is a selection of one or two plants to be in bloom approximately each month. Try not to limit yourself to cattleyas, which so ideally adapt themselves to a succession of bloom. Cattleyas are charming to have, but variety is desirable. There is something infinitely appealing about orchid flowers if each new bloom brings you something different in shape, size, and color.
Needless to say, the months given here are approximate. Climate variations and your cultural approach can speed up or delay flowering as much as a month. Also, there are no two books, technical or otherwise, that agree on the flowering dates of orchids. One authority may give spring as the time for Coelogyne mooreana to bloom; another will say summer; a third will suggest that it blooms variously throughout the year. Actually, all three authorities may be correct; it merely depends on what section of the world they are writing about. However, the following months may be considered as about the earliest that each one of these orchids will flower in the United States.
1. Cool Orchids
JANUARY JULY
Coelogyne cristata Disa grandiflora
Oncidium cavendishianum Epidendrum nemorale
FEBRUARY AUGUST
Dendrobium superbum Oncidium flexuosum
Odontoglossum rossii Sobralia leucoxantha
MARCH SEPTEMBER
Cymbidium insigne Odontoglossum citrosmum
Lycaste cruenta Oncidium crispum
APRIL OCTOBER
Coelogyne mooreana Cypripedium insigne
Laelia majalis Odontoglossum grande
MAY NOVEMBER
Calanthe veratifolia Cypripedium villosum
Cymbidium lowianum Laelia autumnalis
JUNE DECEMBER
Bletia hyacinthina Laelia anceps
Dendrobium infundibulum Zygopetalum mackayi
2. Intermediate Orchids
JANUARY MAY
Cattleya percivaliana Cattleya intermedia
Pleurothallis roezlii Laelia purpurata
FEBRUARY JUNE
Cattleya amethystoglossa Cattleya warscewiczii
Oncidium sphaecelatum Oncidium wentworthianum
MARCH JULY
Cattleya skinneri Cattleya dowiana
Dendrobium nobile Coelogyne corrugata
APRIL AUGUST
Cattleya mossiae Cattleya luedemanniana
Laelia grandis Stanhopea insignis
SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER
Cattleya boxuringiana Cattleya labiata
Epidendrum skinnerì Dendrobium chrysotoxum
OCTOBER DECEMBER
Cattleya guttata Cattleya trianae
Oncidium ornithorynchum Trichopilia tortillis
3. Warm Orchids
JANUARY JULY
Dendrobium phaelanopsis Aerides odoratum Phalaenopsis schilleriana Cypripedium lawrenceanum
FEBRUARY AUGUST
Dendrobium bigibbum Catasetum macracarpum
Dendrobium brymerianum Cypripedium godefroyae
MARCH SEPTEMBER
Cypripedium callosum Catasetum maculatum
Dendrobium bensoniae Cypripedium charlestvorthii
APRIL OCTOBER
Cypripedium bellatulum Phalaenopsis amabilis
Dendrobium dearei Vanda sanderiana
MAY NOVEMBER
Aerides crassifolium Angraecum eburneum
Cypripedium concolor Phalaenopsis stuartiana
JUNE DECEMBER
Aerides lawrenceae Angraecum sesquipeda¡e
Cypripedium lawrenceanum Phalaenopsis aphrodite
The following orchids have proved very amenable to window conditions all over the country. The names have been gathered from orchid enthusiasts who have succeeded in growing the plants in New York and San Francisco, Seattle and New Orleans, Salt Lake City and St. Louis. With some care, it would be hard to fail with these selections.
You don't need a Wardian case, and a well-equipped window is not essential if you limit your selection to the cool-growing orchids. However, if you decide you can't do without some of the warm and intermediate orchids, don't try to grow them constantly in a window that hasn't the minimum of apparatus to keep your plants in fine fettle.
1. Cool Orchids
Angraecum falcatum Laelia majalis
Cattleya citrina Lycaste aromatica
Coelogyne cristata Lycaste deppei
Cypripedium boxalli Lycaste skinneri
Cypripedium insigne Odontoglossum grande
Cypripedium spicerianum Oncidium cavendishianum
Cypripedium villosum Oncidium varicosum
Epidendrum vitellinum Pleione (in variety)
Laelia autumnalis Sophronitis grandiflora
Laelia gouldiana Sophronitis violacea
Zygopetalum mackayi
2. Intermediate Orchids
Cattleya (in variety) Epidendrum atropurpurea
Coelogyne pandurata Epidendrum ciliare
Dendrobium nobile Laeli grandis
Dendrobium pierardi Laelia purpurata
3. Warm Orchids
Angraecum crassifolium Oncidium luridum
Cypripedium bellatulum Phalaenopsis amabalis
Cypripedium callosum Phalaenopsis luedemanniana
Cypripedium curtisii Phalaenopsis schilleriana
Cypripedium lawrenceanum Phalaenopsis stuartiana
Dendrobium dearei Vanda sanderiana
Dendrobium phaelanopsis Vanda suavis
Cool orchids can be grown outdoors under good cultural conditions between the last spring frost and the first autumn frost. Only five or six orchid genus can be left outside the year round providing the temperature doesn't drop below 28° and frost is infrequent. Only one orchid can be left out when it snows.
Those of us who live in the milder sections of the United States can enjoy to the fullest this new phase of growing orchids outdoors. Those who live in colder areas should approach the subject with some hesitancy and considerable knowledge—experience, too, if you can get it—before attempting to install orchids in patios and gardens for even short periods. Watch your patio and outdoor orchids closely for their reactions and govern your culture accordingly.
The following list comprises the best of the hardiest orchids and the lowest known minimum temperature to which they have been subjected without injury to foliage or flowers.
DEGREES
SPECIES FAHRENHEIT
Bletia hyacinthina (Bletilla striata) o
Calanthe (deciduous varieties) 32
Cattleya citrina 32
Cymbidium (in variety) 26
Cypripedium (cool varieties) 28
Cypripedium (natives of North America) o
Dendrobium superbum 32
Epidendrum cochleatum 28
Epidendrum o'brienianum 28
Epidendrum tampense 26
Epidendrum vitellinum 32
Laelia autumnalis 28
Laelia anceps 32
Laelia majalis 30
Lycaste skinneri 32
Odontoglossum grande 28
Oncidium cavendishianum 28
Oncidium splendidum 32
Phaius grandifolius 32
Sobralia macrantha 28
Sobralia xantholeuca 28
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