BP SPECIES NEWSLETTER MAY 2001

July 00  Aug   Sept  Oct  Nov   Dec   Jan 01   Feb   Mar  Apr  
Photos in this issue: Dendrobium canaliculatum, Sophronitis cernua, Dendrobium ruppianum x tetragonum giganteum, natural hybrid.
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 A.  What's New in flask.
Dendrobium canaliculatum. A species of the lowland teetree flats along the north east coast of Australia. Short plump pseudobulbs topped with up to 5 fleshy, canaliculate (channelled)  leaves, bear a  number of spikes, with a multitude of white flowers, tipped yellow, a bright purple disk on the labellum. Fragrant.
Best grown on a piece of its original host, or in a very small pot in a media that drains well. Maximum sunlight required, they grow almost in full sun for part of the day. When dormant, minimum water.
Coryanthes gernotii "Gernots Special", a very colourful yellow and red marked Bucket Orchid. A small grower, does best in a small basket in spaghnam or similar media that will stay damp but not wet. When not in active growth, a short drier rest is recommended. Seed from the discoverer Dr Gernot Bergold.
Ionopsis paniculatus, resown. This minature grows like a Comparettia or equitant Oncidium. A showy minature grower with lots of flowers, best grown on a mount of either treefern or cork bark, it bears panicles of delicate lilac flowers, the lip striped pink.
 
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B. What's ready to replate NOW.

Some dwarf monopodials.
Cyrtorchis praetermissa; A fragrant, white flowered African species. The plants perhaps do best mounted on a treefern slab, or in a small basket with an open media. Grow a little on the shady side, with good ventilation.
Jumellea filicornoides; A similar culture requirement to the Cyrtorchis. This has dainty pure white flowers with a long spur. Fragrant at night, anotherAfrican species.
Sarcochilus tricalliatus: An Australian species, a twig dweller. Best grown on a small rough barked piece of branch, or perhaps treefern or cork. It is a minature, with crystalline pure white flowers. Grows in dense shade, dry during the winter months.
Holcoglossum rupestre; A showy Chinese species, somewhat like H.quasipinifolium from Formosa. A short terete leafed species, it does best in a small pot or basket with an open media, or on a treefern slab. A cooler grower, the flowers are pale to dark pink, with a large spurred labellum.
Aerangis citrata; A charming Madagascan species with two ranked spikes of crystalline cream white flowers. It is a shade grower, does well on a treefern slab if kept damp but not wet, or in a small pot/basket in an open media. When not in active growth, a drier rest is needed, which is probably relevant to all these dwarf monopodials. Close watch should be kept for insect attach, especially from mite. A teaspoon of wettable sulphur per litre of water, sprayed on the underside of the leaves will fix both mite and fungus attack.
 
 
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C. What's new in Plants.
Sophronitis cernua, almost flowering size, are doing well in 80mm basket pots, grown in a thin layer of spaghnam moss/isolite. We expect to see flower spikes on the next lead. A small pseudobulbous plant that is almost flat on the growing media, it needs good light and drainage. When the new leads are growing, care should be taken not to keep them too wet, to prevent damp out of the new leads. Probably better suited to  growing on treefern slabs, the species will develop into a large multiflowered clump.(Also still available in flask.)
Two species that missed going onto the price lists until recently have reached a good size, ready for the next size pot, but still at the smaller pot price.
Vanda merrillii, a Philippino strap leaf  with laquered chinese yellow and red flowers, very fragrant. Typical strap leaf Vanda culture, basket with well drained open media, lots of water and fertiliser, warm.
Cyrtopodium cristatum, from Venezuela, has an erect panicle of yellow marked red flowers, similar to the well known C punctatum. A deciduous species, requiring a dry rest in winter when it looses its leaves. Does well in shredded spaghnam/isolite mix, and would benefit from new media repot as the new leads appear in spring. Feed heavily.
 
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D. The Dendrobium. Memories on the Web

They came to the wilderness banks of Pine Creek to camp for awhile, Steve and  his wife Lee, and stayed 14 years. Steve built a stone pitched bush house, photographed reptiles and found an interest in orchids. I arrived late one afternoon, long after the hard work, to the peace and quite of a bush sunset.
  After a quiet night with the sounds of the bush, we set out to drive to the top of the range.
    Here Steve stopped on a non recognisable bend in the road, pointed thru the rainforest down the slope, and informed me that we were going to climb down to the creek.
    We slid down, rather than climbed, passing on the way clumps of Calanthe triplicata, the white flowered Christmas orchid. The creek was running with cold clear water, around big boulders, almost overhung by the rainforest trees. In the larger trees, hanging from the larger branches, were huge plants of the spider orchid, Dendrobium tetragonum var giganteum, several in flower.
     On the slope into the creek, hanging from small trees under the rainforest canopy, were clumps of Bulbophyllum radicans. A pendulous growing species, with tiny red flowers, similar to its neighbour  Bulbophyllum aurantiacum, with orange flowers. Small clumps of another tiny red flowered species, Bulbophyllum macphersonii, clung almost like moss to the thin understory tree trunks.
     Out in the open canopy high in the larger trees along the bank were a few plants of Dendrobium ruppianum.
      It was the presence of the Dendrobium ruppianum and Dendrobium tetragonum var giganteum that had bought  Steve back and me to visit. On a rock face, out of reach of the creek in flood time, Steve had photographed a flowering Dendrobium, a plant that had to be a natural hybrid between the 2 species growing naturally in this isolated rainforest creek.
     We took photographs and left footprints, a memorable rainforest mountain creek.
      Now Steve and Lee are back in civilisation, two kids in need of schools and education. Still the interest in orchids, combined with computers, enabling this story to be read and the photographs  to be seen. Thanks Steve, at www.orchidsonline, great memories and a great way to keep them, on the Web.
Photos left D. ruppianum x tetragonum giganteum natural hybrid. Photos Steve Wells.
For more photographs and a check list of species found go to
Jacobson's Track
       
 
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E. Web page.

Check out our new web page  www.speciesorchids.com
 New address   Year 2000  winner of  “Linda the Orchid Lady” award .  New address
 The web page contains; Full descriptions of species available as flasks and plants plus photographs.
 Details on ordering, shipping and cultural notes.
Links to other interesting sites.
Articles on culture, habitat and notes about orchids.
 Archived  issues of  this Newsletter back to July 2000, all about orchid growing.
And more photographs.
 
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 F. Humour.
After spending three and a half hours enduring the long lines, surly clerks,and insane regulations at the department of motor vehicles, I stopped at a toy store to pick up a gift for my son.
I brought my selection - a baseball bat - to the cash register.
"Cash or charge?" the clerk asked.
"Cash," I snapped. Then, apologising for my rudeness, I explained,
"I just spent the afternoon at the motor-vehicle bureau."
"Shall I gift wrap the bat?" the clerk asked "Or are you going back there now?"
 

April 1867 issue of  `Printers' Circular.'"
"A duel was fought in Texas lately, by Alexander Shott and John S. Nott.
Nott was shot and Shott was not. In this case it was better to be Shott than Nott.
There was a rumor that Nott was not shot, but Shott swears he shot Nott, which proves either
that the shot Shott shot at Nott was not shot, or that Nott is shot notwithstanding."

 

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 Yours in orchids,
Ian and Pat Walters, Burleigh Park Orchid Nursery
54 Hammond Way, Thuringowa, Australia 4815
Email us at  www.speciesorchids.com
Phone Fax 0747 740 008
International 61 747 740 008
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