A trip in the orchidarium

I went to the Botanical Garden this week, and had fun in the orchidarium. It had many plants blooming, which is not common at this time of the year. Some of them weren´t tagged, though.

Let me show what I saw in there. Let the trip begin:

I entered the orchidarium and went to the left, where many ground orchids are planted. They are usually blooming, but as the flowers are not showy (mostly Maxillarias with small and pale flowers, or Epidendrums and Renantheras that never bloom). There weren´t flowers this time, but several plants of Miltonia clowesii (picture) were there with their beautiful flowers that slightly changed colors from plant to plant.

After the Miltonias, I crossed the small whater channel (that provides water to the central pond) and continued on the path to the right. The first plant I saw was a Cattleya labiata with enormous white flowers (picture).

After the Cattleya, there was another M. clowesii. Right next to it, another Miltonia, M. regnellii was showing its uncommon yellow and pink flowers (picture), probably the last ones of the season.

Going further, I saw a short Zygopetalum mackayi, with beautiful flowers (picture). Even though this is a popular species, I don´t remember if I have seen this plant in person before that day.

Speaking of short plants, I was surprised when I saw, behind a thicket of Costus speciosus, a very short Vanda coerulea (picture) bearing big purple/blue flowers. I didn´t remember this plant being so short... but it was there, so I couldn´t really argue.

When I stood up after checking out the Vanda, I saw hanging before my eyes a fiber vase with Maxillaria alba, and its delicated white flowers (picture).

The straight path ends in a room, where they usually put informative folders, interesting plants, or make a micro exposition about the methods of germination and cultivation from seeds. Before I entered the room, I saw this very small Oncidium (O. scandens - picture).

On the other side of the entrance to the room, there was a Cattleya walkeriana, one of the most important orchids in the brazilian coastal rainforests - and one of the most beautiful ones (picture)

Next to the C. walkeriana, a weird orchid was planted on a vase. It was a Lockhartia lunifera, with long stems, small leaves, and ocasional delicated flowers (picture).

Finally I entered the said room, and hanging from the ceiling, a Coelogyne massangeana was blooming, with its pendant inflorescences bearing white and brown flowers (picture)

(at this moment, a bunch of french tourists aproached).

The room has a side door that leads to a garden, where many orchid are randomly planted on the few trees in there. In the other side of that garden, another orchidarium, where they cultivate the plants that are not blooming until they shout flowers - and then they put them in the main exposition -, or the ones that aren´t so atractive. Planted on the ground, I found a familiar orchid, an Epidendrum fulgens (picture). I have this orchid, but mine has a strong orange color with a yellow labellum. I could feel the orange and yellow on those flowers, but pink was definetly dominant on this variety.

Next to this, right on the entrance to the other structure, a bunch of grass-like plants were growing around a palm tree. I saw a tag stuck in there, and it said "Epidendrum filicaule" (picture). That just made sense.

I entered the "other" orchidarium, and the first thing I saw was this elegant hybrid, Brassocattleya "Star Ruby".

Near the Bc. "Star Ruby", I saw an intriguing plant. With broad leaves and a thick herbaceous stem, and an apical inflorescence bearing really small, green flowers, a Mallaxis was trying to look cool around so many colorful flowers. It worked, since it caught my attention (picture... bad focus).

Oh, and the flowers

The Bc. and the Mallaxis were on a shelf along with other uncommon orchids, like this Dimerandra emarginata, with single, small pink flowers.

... and this Ornithophora radicans, and its very tiny green and white flowers (picture).

At this moment, a french woman asked me (in english) if she could bring a plant she purchased here in Brasil, with her to France. I am not really informed about this, but I advised her that there are many laws made to prevent biopiracy, that forbid the free transport of biological material (plants) from Brasil to other countries. It´s an unconfortable situation, because that´s my answer to everyone who asks me for seeds or plants :^/

Anyway, when the tourists left, I took a shot of this small, white orchid, the Epidendrum durum (picture), that was standing before me all the time begging to be photographed.

I took that picture of E. durum, then lookd below, and saw three orchids with atractive leaves. Orchids with atractive leaves are not common in our flora, so they surely caught my attention.

The first one was this Beadlea sp.

When I looked the second one, I recognized it right away. I found this orchid growing wild in another ocasion, and even posted its picture in another thread of this forum (http://davesgarden.com/t/416981/). And then, finally I found out it is called Oceoclades maculata.

(no picture, they are all posted in that other thread)

The third one was a gorgeous Mesadenella cuspidata. Big round leaves, with silver spots! It was blooming, but the leaves were so beautiful (and the flowers were so white and small :^P) that I didn´t care about the flowers.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2004 12:49 AM

I decided to leave already. I had to save my batteries for the rest of the Botanical Garden (which I obviously failed to archieve). I had a quick look around the not blooming plants, and saw this Laelia perrinii with gorgeous big pink flowers (picture). The plant was entirely purple... leaves and pseudobulbs were purple, and I don´t know if it´s natural for this species, or because it is just a colorful cultivar, or something...

In my way back to the main exposition, I took a picture of this orchid, uncertainly named Encyclia vespa (picture). The flower shape and plant really looked like the E. vespa I know - a common species of the coastal rainforests - but the colors weren´t right. The yellow petals with red spots and white labellum are different from the common brownish petals and white/pink labellum. But if they say it is E. vespa, I only have to agree until I get more into orchid taxonomy to deny it.

Back to the exposition, I followed again the straight path along the water channel, now on the left side. A shy Maxillaria chrysantha was there (picture)

Next to it, with pendulous, purple leaves, a rather big Pleurothallis strupifolia was making a beautiful effect on its fiber pot. It was blooming, as well, but, being a Pelurothallis, had only small flowers .

A more behaving species, Pleurothallis pubescens (picture) was tanding next to its more showy cousin. It had a set of small flowers too.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2004 12:52 AM

I was walking and looking to the left, with the water behind me. Along the "river", there was planted lots of white Sobralias and pink Spathoglothis, but they weren´t blooming this time.

One more step and I stood in front of this orchid. I swear, The tag said "Kaillenstenia graminea" (picture). I looked for this name on Google, and it returned no results... Does anyone know if the genus "Kaillenstenia" actually exists?

Anyway, to the left I saw my favorite of that morning. Laelia alaorii (picture), with big, bell shaped flowers, just showed up. Enchanting.

I finally saw myself again in the main pavillion. In the middle, the artificial pond, and in the middle of that pond, a circular area where the most beautiful orchids - the ones with enormous flowers, that I call "tourists´ orchids", because they generally just stay there and never bother to see the other plants. Some of those flowers were untagged, or just said the genus name. I had to number them to remember later :^P

This is number 1:

This is number 2:

And number 3 (I sense a Brassavola´s gene pool on this one):

There was a Phalaenopsis there as well. No orchidarium is an orchidarium without one of those.

One of the few tagged orchids in that central area was this Brassolaeliocattleya "Pokai Tangerine", with these very interesting bright orange flowers.

On my way out, I saw a Cattleya intermedia (picture). This species was one of the very first ones I ever purchased. Even though this is considered an "inferior" species, mostly used for hybrids, it´s still one of my favorites.

I got out of that pavillion and took the right path around the pond. There were some gingers, begonias, heliconias, and this orchid. Pseudolaelia vellozicola (picture). Its name indicates that it comes from the mountains of central Brazil, where the Vellozias (shrubby monocots with woody stems) live, and that this orchid has a special relationship with those plants.

After that, I left the orchidarium. They often organize special expositions with other associated orchidariums, but I always miss it. I will stay allert for the next ones.

what a delightful trip!

thank you