second edition 2021-2022
biology
Conservatory Editorial “Orchids Through the Seasons in the Caine Conservatory ” Dr. Jason Lattier,
Director of the Caine Conservatory
It is hard to imagine a tropical conservatory without orchids. Orchids represent a group of terrestrial and tree-dwelling (epiphyte) plants that produce an array of spellbinding, exotic blooms. They have been a source of fascination and obsession for many tropical plant enthusiasts. Their draw has even been captured in best-selling books, such as the Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, and in major motion pictures, such as Adaptation. The majority of orchid aficionados focus primarily on one genus or a small number of genera, which can take years to master. Rare is the collector that can master a range of hundreds of genera and species, including both wild types and the gaudy hybrids with dinner-plate-sized flowers. Enter the intrepid North Carolina master grower, John Stanton, into our little tale. Over decades, John has built a Mecca of orchids in his 21,000 sq. ft. nursery, The Orchid Trail, about 1.5 hours east of High Point University in the town of Morrisville (Image 1). During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, John decided to sell his nursery after many years of building his impressive collection. His collection was a combination of plants for sale to the public as well as 20+ year old specimen plants in his private collection. After many discussions, John decided to donate much of his species collection to the new conservatory at HPU, as well as sell a large hybrid collection from his retail nursery to HPU at a bargain price. During summer of 2020, we began moving the orchid collection into the Caine Conservatory. One of the oldest specimen plants in his private collection just happened to be finishing its bloom during the move. The 20+ year old clump of Schomburgkia tibicinus (aka Myrmecophila tibicinis) was producing a massive 8’ long inflorescence that arched overhead of our small production greenhouse (Image 2). This is a giant tree-dwelling and sometimes rock-dwelling (lithophyte) orchid native to the seasonally dry forests from Mexico south to Columbia. After situating the collection on the vertical lath panels in the production houses, the plants began to bloom as the short days and cool weather of fall approached. The range of colors, fragrance, and complexity of the orchid collection began to unfold. In late
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Image 1. John Stanton surveying his orchids at The Orchid Trail in Morrisville, NC.
Image 2. Myrmecophila (Schomburgkia) tibicinis and its 8’ long inflorescences in the production house at the Caine Conservatory.
Image 3. Bulbophyllum sikkimense from India.
summer, the diminutive blooms of Bulbophyllum sikkimense from the foothills of the Sikkim in India began to bloom with its graceful ring of diminutive pink flowers (Image 3). Another stunning Bulbophyllum (B. medusae from SE Asia) showed off its flowers in Fall; however, it is named after the deadly hair of Medusa so gaze at your own risk (Image 4). Next in bloom were the deep maroon flowers of Cycnoches cooperi native to the humid rain forests of Peru (Image 5). From the Greek, ‘kyknos’ meaning swan and ‘anchen’ meaning neck, the flowers resemble a swan in flight. (Pro tip: flip the photo upside down to see the swan in flight!) During the Fall, some of our fabulous terrestrial orchids exhibited their complex blooms, including one of the more fancifully named hybrid lady-slipper orchids, Paphiopedilum Macabre ‘Cha Cha’ (Image 6). The macabre flower (obviously going through a Goth phase) arrived in October just in time for Halloween. Nearing Thanksgiving, one of our larger flowering Brassia ‘Rex’ hybrids began to emerge (Image 7). It produced a massive inflorescence packed with blooms nearly a foot across and has become a crowd favorite among our fall bloomers. In the orchid world, Brassia ‘Rex’ is considered a ‘primary hybrid’ since it is the result of two wildtype species, B. verrucosa (native to C & S America) and B. gireoudiana (native to Costa Rica and Panama). In the short days of winter, our Oncidium collection began to flower, with the largest and showiest flowers emerging from Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’, producing a towering inflorescence of burgundy and white flowers with up to 150 flowers per inflorescence (Image 7). This is the most prized Oncidium hybrid for collectors due to its massive profusion of flowers and its chocolate fragrance early in the morning. Winter also brought blooms on more of our terrestrial orchid collection, including the dynamic duo of the hybrid Cymbidium ‘Nut’ and wild-type Paphiopedilum venustum from eastern Nepal, Tibet, and Bangladesh (Image 8). However, the highlight of our orchids during the holiday season arrives with the bloom of our largest specimen orchid, Angraecum Veitchii ‘White Star’, commonly known as the Christmas orchid, the Star of Bethlehem orchid, and Darwin’s orchid (Image 9). This orchid can be found in our center bed climbing our centerpiece palm, the Bismarkia nobilis from Madagascar. Darwin’s orchid also originates from Madagascar, and was so named based on Darwin’s assertion that the unusual flowers with their extremely long rear spur must be pollinated by a yet undiscovered species of moth with an absurdly long proboscis. Mocked for his assertion at the time, the moth (Xanthopan morganii) was discovered 21 years after his death (Image 10).
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Image 4. Bulbophyllum medusa from the Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines.
Image 5. Cycnoches cooperi from Peru.
Image 6. Paphiopedilum ‘Macabre Cha Cha’. One of the Macabre series originating from the cross of P. sukhakulii (from NE Thailand) x P. ‘Voodoo Magic’. Image 7. The chocolate-scented blooms of the hybrid Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ (front) and the Mombasa cycad Encephalartos hildebrandtii (rear). Image 8. Cymbidium ‘Nut’ (rear) and wild-type Paphiopedilum venustum (front) from eastern Nepal, Tibet, and Bangladesh.
Image 9. The four foot tall (and growing) orchid from Madagascar, Angraecum Veitchii ‘White Star’, commonly know as Darwin’s orchid. Image 10. Morgan’s sphinx moth (Xanthopan morganii), the predicted pollinator of the Darwin orchid discovered 21 years after Darwin’s death. Photo: Natural History Museum of London (WikiCommons).
Spring brought about another bloom in our Africa bed with our specimen of leopard orchid, Ansellia africana (Image 11). Ansellia is a monotypic genus of orchids with only one species, but it is one of the toughest species of orchids around. Unlike most orchids, it grows in high light and in hot, dry grasslands. It can be found growing on trees, shrubs, and even rocks, and has even (unfortunately) been referred to as the “trash-basket orchid” because of the basket of aerial roots it crafts to catch falling leaf debris for nutrients. Spring also brought about blooms on one of our most interesting fragrant orchids, the coconut orchid Maxillaria tenuifolia, native to Mexico and Nicaragua (Image 12). The fragrance of this orchid is a mixture of coconut mixed with warm sugar, smelling like a warm coconut pie. Although the blooms are diminutive, the many dozens of flowers covering our mature specimen makes it a feast for the senses. And finally, with the long days of Spring many of our complex Cattleya hybrids displayed their multi-colored fragrant flowers, including the HPU-colored L.c. C.G. Roebling coerulea ‘Beechview’ (Image 13). This seasonal description highlights just a handful of the many fantastic orchids in the collection of the Caine Conservatory. We hope to continue building a world-class orchid collection that will grace campus for years to come. Maintaining a diverse orchid collection takes a dedicated and skilled staff of horticulturist performing many hours of work cleaning, pruning, dividing, remounting, watering, fertilizing, and virus testing. We are currently fortunate to have two dedicated volunteers, Mitch Meiners and Tammy Goldberg from the Triad Orchid Society that help maintain our ever-growing orchid collection (Image 14). We hope to see you in the conservatory and answer any questions you may have about the wonderful world of orchids!
Image 11. The leopard orchid, Ansellia africana, native to tropical and southern Africa.
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Image 12. The coconut orchid, Maxillaria tenuifolia, native to Mexico and Nicaragua.
Image 13. The complex Cattleya hybrid L.c. C.G. Roebling coerulea ‘Beechview’ in HPU purple and white.
Image 14. Volunteers Mitch Meiners and Tammy Goldberg from the Triad Orchid Society dividing and remounting orchids in the Head House of the Caine Conservatory.
Biology Newsletter High Point University
High Point, NC 27268
http://www.highpoint.edu/Biology
Second Edition 2021-2022
Visuals @ Brookelynn Berry-Wagner