Macodes Jewel orchids and Phaius by Carlise and Eike Jauch

I do not grow many Spathoglottis, but I am happy to see that Spathoglottis affinis opened its first flower yesterday.

The beauty of its flowers is amazing, the red colouration pattern is in a nice contrast to the yellow background. It is a warm growing terrestrial found in China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Java and Borneo. It is a decidous orchid species with small flattened pseudobulbs. During the rest period it should be kept dry and under cool to cold conditions. This species was described by Willem Hendrik de Vriese in 1854.

For a long time I am using the OrchidRoots website as a reference book. The whole content of BlueNanta OrchidRoots website is provided by OrchidRoots Corp which is a non-profit Science and Technology Research Institute registered in Maryland, USA. The website content is purely informational in nature and for educational purposes only.

At facebook, Chari Pete is administrator of the BlueNanta OrchidRoots Users group with currently 10.963 members. As one of the members I posted some comments on Phaius and its hybrids …

Yesterday, Chari Pete contacted me and asked wether I would like to be curator on Phaius species at BlueNanta OrchidRoots. Of course, I said yes with enthusiasm. It is a big honour to me to help extending this great reference book. Therefore, I will take care of the genera Phaius and Gastrorchis and their hybrids in future.

Please check this great webpage:

https://www.bluenanta.com/

Isn’t this just beautyful? Mrs. Benson’s Thunia needs a large day/night temperature difference to bloom properly.

Phaiocalanthe Black Lives Matter is a new hybrid using Phaius wallichii and Calanthe rubens as parental plants. Let’s see how colours will combine!

This beautyful Gastrorchis is one of the parents of Gastrophaius Neowise 2020. It clearly shows signs of Gastrorchis tuberculata, the most beautyful Gastrorchis in my opinion. The other parent of Gastrorchis Elizabeth Castle is Gastrochis pulchra.

I crossed Gastrorchis Elizabeth Castle with Phaius wallichii to obtain Gastrophaius Neowise 2020.

 

In the issue 4/2020 of OrchideenZauber, a german orchid journal, Dr. Jürgen Schmidt kindly published our article about Preptanthe. OrchideenZauber is a magazine with a focus on orchids. The content is mainly about the culture of tropical plants, including non-orchids, such as bromeliads, but occasionally also native or carnivorous plants. Care and culture of orchids, but also of other fascinating plants with comparable claims, appeal to every nature lover. Whether common or rare orchids, whether airplants or the unusal carnivorous pitcher plants – such topics are presented in content and impressive photos. Interested in reading OrchideenZauber? Contact the editor kontakt@orchideenzauber.eu

I have linked my homepage to the homepage of OrchideenZauber. Please check the Links Page at the top.

 

Read more about Preptanthe:

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2020/02/12/calanthe-hildegard-kibler-mueller-2/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2020/02/22/calanthe-baron-schroder-superstar/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2019/01/29/calanthe-rubens-a-pink-preptanthe/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2018/01/13/calanthe-vestita-oder-phaius-vestitus/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2018/12/08/calanthe-x-sedenii-harrisii/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2018/12/09/calanthe-cardioglossa-eine-nahe-verwandte-der-calanthe-succedanea/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/calanthe-tyneville-with-impressive-flowers/

https://prachtorchideen.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/varieties-of-calanthe-vestita/

Phaius Blautopf is a Phaius hybrid that can be expected to have really big, open flowers. Just look at the parental plants:

Phaius Gravesiae is a litte bit a slow grower, that is why I used Phaius antoninae as a hybridization partner which is a good grower.

I hope that some Phaius Blautopf are better growers with big flowers and intense colouration of the flowers. Let’s wait and see …

 

 

Phaius Memoria Pater Agnellus Schneider is a big surprise to me. It is a hybrid of Phaius tonkinensis and Phaius philippinensis. Phaius tonkinensis belongs to the section Limatodes and can reach a hight of 110 cm, Phaius philippinensis is a rather small growing Phaius that does not exceed 60 cm.

The lip of Phaius tonkinensis shows a beautyful red colouration pattern that is inherited to Phaius Memoria Pater Agnellus Schneider.

The colouration of the flower of Phaius philippinensis is not really spectacular.

Phaius Memoria Pater Agnellus Schneider is a felicitous combination of its parents. The flowers are rich in colour and the plant itself stays with less than 60 cm small. It therefore can easiliy be grown on the window sill!

“14 years after the end of World War II, still at the time of the “economic miracle”, the Association for Nature Conservation in Oberschwaben was founded in Bad Wurzach on May 23, 1959. The founding fathers were personalities who recognized that society was in the process of forgetting ideal values ​​in the pursuit of material prosperity.

The technical progress, the rationalization in agriculture based on state subsidies, the social and political consensus to cultivate “wasteland”, particularly threatened the Upper Swabian moors and vineyards. Natural landscapes and near-natural landscapes, with their unique wealth of plants and animals, were officially referred to as “wasteland” or “Unland”. At the suggestion of the then District Administrator of Wangen im Allgäu, Dr. Walter Münch, Father Agnellus Schneider, Salvatorkolleg Bad Wurzach, founded this first pure nature conservation association. Father Agnellus Schneider led the association as 1st chairman for over 40 years.”

Translated from the homepage of the Association for Nature Conservation in Oberschwaben. Please have a look at the homepage of the Association for Nature Conservation in Oberschwaben linked under Links.

Update 25.12.2021: The last picture shows a clone af the reciprocal cross. For Phaius Memoria Pater Agnellus Schneider there seems to be a strong influence of parental plant choice.

I simply would like to cite ‘Lady Tankerville’s Legacy’: The flower colour of this species is very distinctive and extremely attractive.

Indeed, none of my Phaius has such a red in its sepals and petals as Phaius subtrilobus. It is this deep wine-red colouration that is so unique. The two shown pictures are of two different plants I have in cultivation.

Phaius subtrilobus was shown on a Malaysian stamp in 2018.

So far I could obtain two  hybrids of Phaius subtrilobus which I named after my twin boys: Phaius Ferdinand Jauch and Phaius Fabian Jauch.

The first hybrid I obtained by crossing Phaius subtrilobus with Phaius tankervilleae, the other one by crossing Phaius subtrilobus with Phaius wallichii. Which cobination will be more attractive in the end?

A beauty on its own: Calanthe alismifolia Lindl. 1855. Rather widespread in Asia, found in Southern Japan, in conifer plantations and broadleaved forests at ca. 1,000 m in the northern part of Taiwan, in the Himalaya and southwestern China, in Assam India, Bhutan and Vietnam.

Calanthe alismifolia is collected in summer and autumn and used as a sundried herb in traditional chinese medicine. Six to twelve gramm of the whole sun dried plant are used for preparation of a decoction. Its principal usage is healing of traumatic injuries. The whole plant improves blood circulation, detoxifies and is antipyretic, it removes humidity and gas, reduces swellings and reduces stasis of blood.

There are only a few Phaius growing in Africa. One of them is Phaius pulchellus. This Phaius occurs in Madagascar and on Mascarenes (Mauritius and Réunion). In contrast to most other Phaius species Phaius pulchellus stays rather small. There are different varieties, all of them are really hard to get. We needed many years to establish our Phaius pulchellus at home, but we now know that it can be cultivated outside a greenhouse. Hopefulle we succeed in getting seedlings of this rare Phaius.

A Phaius flower posseses 6 perianth leaves, better said three plus three perianth leaves. The three exterior perianth leaves are called sepals, the three interior ones are called petals. The median leaf of the inner circle of perianth leaves forms the lip and differs significantly from the two other petals. On the lip excrescences like lumps, callices or keels and extensions like a spur can be present. The column is the characteristic feature of an orchid flower, it is found in the centre of the flower. It is a coalescence of all the male and female reproductive organs and is often termed the Gynostemium. Regardless of its absolute and relative size, the reproductive parts are always at its tip. Only one stamen is left in Phaius, in slipper orchids two of them can be found, the distantly related lilies posses three male fertilizing organs. The stamen forms solid pollen-parts, the so called pollinia, in Phaius eight of them can be found.

The pollinia are tough, waxy and precisely delineated structures. The pollinia are held together by a sticky mass, a stipe interpolates itself between the pollinia and the sticky mass. The conglomerate of pollinium, sticky mass and stipe is called pollinaria. Until reaching maturity they are hidden under a structure called anther. The anther will fall off when the pollinaria are removed by a pollinator. The fine structure of the pollinaria provides the most important clues to the group of related species to which an orchid belongs.

The pollinaria are housed at the tip of the column in a cavity called clinandrium. The clinandrium may have a collar-like back wall. The stigma, which is the fertile female part of the flower, is usually located just underneath the clinandrium. A rostellum usually separates the stigma from the pollinarium. The rostellum is part of the stigma and is a kind of roof which prevents the flower from self-pollination. In Phaius it lacks in self-pollinating flowers, for example in Phaius tankervilleae var. antoninae.

If a Phaius flower bud would open normally, the lip of the flower would point upwards (see the flower bud on the left on the pic below). Before the bud opens a rotation of 180 degrees brings the lip in a new position so that the lip points straight to the observer.

In 1983 Jürgen Roth published his book “Orchideen”. In this book he gives some information about Phaiocalanthe I would like to share with you.

Jürgen Roth recommends the long inflorescence as cut flowers, as the flowers are quite durable. Phaiocalanthe show robust growth and are easy to be maintained in culture. Especially Veitch made special contributions to breeding of Phaiocalanthe in the last decades of the eightteenth centure.

Therafter, little breeding was done to increase number of Phaiocalanthe hybrids. Phaiocalanthe like moderate to warm temperatures, a substrate rich in nutrients, but no direct sunlight or dry heat. The substrate should be kept moist, but excessive watering is not recommended.

Phaiocalanthe Irrorata (first known as Phaius irroratus Veich 1867, see second picture) was the first Phaiocalanthe that was presented to the world of orchid breeders. I have repeated the cross and wait for the first flowersthis winter.

 

In Orchids of Papua New Guinea – an introduction by Andree Millar (1978) only one Phaius species is described to occur in Papua New Guinea: Phaius tankervillea (as Phaius tancarvilliae). It is decribed to be very widespread from the lowlands to about 1000 meters. It often grows in long grass and is called after this grass ‘kunai orchid’. The sepals and petals are chalk white on the back and reddish-brown on the inside. Interestingly Andree Millar also reports of a form of Phaius tankervilleae that always grows at higher altitudes and is yellow on the inside of the petals and sepals and has a yellow labellum.

This description fits to the description of the Phaius tankervilleae var. bernaysii that was found on the Philippines in N Mindanao. It is shown in Lady Tankerville’s Legacy (Fig. 103) and is also called Phaius tankervilleae fma flava.

On the other hand, P.J. Cribb, J. Stone and P.O. Byrne describe in Lady Tankerville’s Legacy a novel species called Phaius tanjiewhoei. That species also has yellow inner sepal and petal surfaces that often are flushed red-brown on the inner surface. The lip of Phaius tanjiewhoei is pure white, sometimes suffused with purple near the tip, becoming yellow with age.

Another variety of Phaius tankervillea found in New Guinea is Phaius tankervilleae var. devogelii.

Phaius montanus is a third species reported from New Guinea. The type of this species was collected at Kaiser Wilhelms Land, the first description took place 1912. It grows in semi-open places in forests on mountain ridges at altitudes between 800 and 2230 meters. Phaius montanus was recorded from at least 11 locations according to the Orchids of New Guinea Website.

Phaius amboinensis. Phaius robertsii and Phaius flavus are also reported from New Guinea.

Phaius flavus is found in montane grassland and forest at altitudes between 1860 to 2700 meters. There are at least 5 records of Phaius falvus in New Guinea according to the Orchids of New Guinea Website.

A location of Phaius robertsii on New Guinea is not specified by Stone and Cribb (2017). It grows in lowland forests in medium to deep shade at an altitude of 550 meters.

There are at least 18 records of Phaius amboinensis on New Guinea. It is found in lowland forests, often in deep shade at an altitude between 20 to 900 meters.

The vietnamese orchid society (Hội Hoa Lan Việt Nam) has collected data about Phaius species that can be found in Vietnam. This list is quite impressive, as this list includes 11 species and 2 additional varieties:

Phaius columnaris, found south of Yunnan, without provenence in Vietnam, although listed. From personal communication I learned that Phaius columnaris is not rare in the north of Vietnam.

Phaius flavus var. flavus and Phaius flavus var. alba. Phaius flavus (Hạc đính vàng, golden crane) was recorded from Quản Ba and Hà Giang (both Ha Giang province in the Northeast region of Vietnam), Sin Hồ and Lai Châu province (both in the Northwest region of Vietnam), Sa Thầy (Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam that borders to both Laos and Cambodia) and Lâm Đồng (Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam). Both forms can even grow at the same place (personal communication), there is no geographical seperation of the two varieties. This observation paralells observations made for Phaius tankervilleae var. australis and Phaius tankervilleae var. bernaysii that are known to share the same locations, too.

(Picture by Chu Xuan Canh)

Phaius indigoferus (Hạc đính chàm, indigo crane) was recorded from Tam Đảo (Vĩnh Phúc Province in the Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam), Kon Tum and Di Linh (both Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam) and Đồng Nai (southeastern Vietnam).

Phaius indochinensis (Hạc đỉnh đông dương, Hạc đính đỏ, red flamingo) was recorded from Đà Lạt and Đầm Ron, both in Lâm Đồng Province (Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam). Picture taken by Dr. Diep Dinh Quang.

Phaius longicornu (Hạc đính trắng, white flamingo) was recorded from Đà Lạt, Lâm Đồng Province (Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam).

(Picture by by Chu Xuan Canh)

Phaius mishmensis (Hạc đính hồng, pink flamingo) was recorded from Tam Đảo (Vĩnh Phúc Province in the Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam), Ninh Bình (Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam), Lâm Đồng Province (Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam).

Phaius takeoi (Hạc đính) was recorded by L. Averyanov from Trà Lĩnh (Cao Bằng Province in the Northeast region of Vietnam).

Phaius tankervilleae var. tankervilleae (Hạc đính nâu, brown crane) was recorded from Tam Đảo (Vĩnh Phúc Province in the Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam), Ninh Bình (Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam), Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands region of Vietnam in southern Vietnam), Ninh Thuận, a province in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam and Đồng Nai, a province in the Southeast region of Vietnam.

Phaius tankervilleae var. baolocensis (Hạc đỉnh Bảo lộc) was recorded from Bảo Lộc and Ban Mê Thuột, both in Central Highlands region of Vietnam.

Phaius tonkinensis (Hạc đính Bắc bộ, nothern crane) was recorded from Trà Lĩnh (Cao Bằng Province, Northeast Vietnam).

Phaius wallichii (Hạc đỉnh Wallich or Hạc đỉnh hai màu) was recorded from Sơn La (north-west region of Vietnam), Lai Châu Province (north-west region of Vietnam), Bắc Cạn (province in the north-east region of Vietnam).

Phaius wenshanensis was recorded from Na Hằng, Tuyên Quang Province, north-east region of Vietnam

(Picture by by Chu Xuan Canh)

The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya by Naresh Swami is a rich source of pictures documentating the occurance of certain orchid species in Sikkim-Himalaya. Sikkim borders Tibet in the North, Bhutan in the East, Nepal in the West and West Bengal in the South. Sikkim is part of the Eastern Himalaya and includes alpine and subtropical climates. Beside the Calanthe and Phaius species listed below, orchids like Dendrobium nobile, Epipactis helleborine, Coelogyne cristata, Goodyera schlechtendaliana, Goodyera repens, Anoectochilus roxburghii and Thunia alba can be found in Sikkim.

Only two Phaius species were recorded so far by Naresh Swami:

Phaius flavus and Phaius mishmensis.

Note added 22.04.2020:

In the original work “The orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya, Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 1898, v. 8, pt. 1-4” following Phaius are listed:

Phaius nanus (as Phajus nanus)

Phaius wallichii (as Phajus wallichii)

Phaius tankervilleae (as Phajus wallichii var. assamica / Phaius blumei var pulchra)

For me it was especially interesting to learn which Calanthe species were recorded from Sikkim-Himalaya. Here is a list of 11 species recorded by by Naresh Swami, that still might be incomplete according to the original publication:

Calanthe masuca

Calanthe herbacea

Calanthe brevicornu

Calanthe alpina

Calanthe biloba

Calanthe yuksomnensis (not mentioned in “The orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya”)

Calanthe puberula

Calanthe trulliformis

Calanthe griffithii (not mentioned in “The orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya”)

Calanthe mannii

Calanthe tricarinata

Note added 22.04.2020:

These additional Calanthe species were pubished in Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya:

Calanthe gracilis

Calanthe alismaefolia

Calanthe angusta

Calanthe chloroleuca

Calanthe whiteana

Calanthe densiflora

 

In the recent issue 3/2020 of OrchideenZauber, a german orchid journal, Dr. Jürgen Schmidt kindly published our article about Phaius tankervilleae and Phaius wallichii. OrchideenZauber is a magazine with a focus on orchids. The content is mainly about the culture of tropical plants, including non-orchids, such as bromeliads, but occasionally also native or carnivorous plants. Care and culture of orchids, but also of other fascinating plants with comparable claims, appeal to every nature lover. Whether common or rare orchids, whether airplants or the unusal carnivorous pitcher plants – such topics are presented in content and impressive photos. Interested in reading OrchideenZauber? Contact the editor kontakt@orchideenzauber.eu

I have linked my homepage to the homepage of OrchideenZauber. Please check the Links Page at the top.

For me it is the queen of all Phaius: Phaius flavus forma album. I was lucky to get some seedlings of this amazing colour form of Phaius flavus, these are shown in above picture. Already the very young seedlings show the spotted leave pattern which contributes to the beauty of this plant. Attractive even when not flowering! Just have a look at the flowering plant below. This great picture was taken by Chu Xuan Canh, and he allowed me to show the picture to you. Thanks! Phaius flavus forma album is reported to occur in Vietnam and East Java. Should it therefore be treated as a variety?

 

Phaius mishmensis is a well known species and one of the Phaius that are sometimes available for European orchid lovers. It needs cool to medium temperatures to thrive well. The first picture taken by Chu Xuan Canh, a vietnamese orchid lover and orchid photographer, shows Phaius mishmensis in its natural habitat. On the the second picture you can see a closeup view of the amazing beautyful flowers. Isn’t that pink colour great? And what about the the yellow of the spur?