Subgenus Cochlopetalum of genus Paphiopedilum is a small group of tropical slipper orchids from Indonesia which are characterized by hairy, spirally twisted petals and a successive-flowering habit. All of the species, with the exception of a yellow form of P. primulinum, have pink pouches and greenish dorsal sepals, and they differ mainly in size, pattern on the dorsal sepal, and subtle variation in pouch shape. I have grown most of the species at one time or another, and P. victoria-regina, from Sumatra, is probably my favorite. It is a relatively large member of the group (P. primulinum is smallest), and I really like the dark stripes on the dorsal sepal which look like flames in some clones.
The strap-like foliage of P. victoria-regina can be plain green or have some tesselation as in this clone.
All members of this subgenus are relatively easy to grow under warm conditions, and they adapt well to greenhouse, light-garden, or windowsill cultivation. Their best feature is their flowering habit. Although the inflorescence only holds one or two flowers at a time, it continues to produce new buds for a very long time–up to two years for P. victoria-regina–so by the time an old inflorescence is senescent, a new growth has almost certainly matured and started flowering. The individual flowers are also quite long-lived. The flower in the background of the picture above opened in late December 2022, and it is still in good condition on February 11, 2023. These characteristics make the Cochlopetalum Paphs ideal for beginning orchid growers who have only a small collection and want to be sure of having at least one plant in flower all year round.
Update: by February 23, a third flower had opened while the first was still in good shape. It’s unusual to have this many flowers open at one time on a single inflorescence, and it typically happens when the inflorescence is young. Later, a new flower usually opens when the previous is fading.
As we approach the end of the year, here are a few photos from the garden and greenhouse in 2022 that inexplicably failed to make it into other blog posts.
Felis catus flying high on Nepeta cataria (catnip)–literally on the catnip.Red eft–the juvenile terrestrial phase of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens)
I found this red eft when I was repotting my meyer lemon tree. It was tucked in at the bottom of the root ball and must have entered the pot through a drainage hole while the tree was outside for the summer.
Solanum carolinense (Carolina horsenettle)
If its stems weren’t so viciously spiny, the interesting flowers of Carolina horsenettle might make it a valued wildflower instead of a dreaded weed.
Asarum splendens
The spring flowers of Asarum splendens (Chinese wild ginger) are easy to miss in the leaf litter.
Eucomis bicolor
Eucomis bicolor is the last of the pineapple lilies to flower in my garden. It blooms in mid-September, about a month after the other species and hybrids
And in the greenhouse/summer shadehouse…
Eucrosia bicolor
E. bicolor is smaller than E. mirabilis, E. aurantiaca, and E. eucrosioides, and its thinner leaves suggest that it is less adapted to arid environments. Unlike the larger species, E. bicolor bulbs multiply rapidly and soon fill a pot.
Scadoxus puniceus ‘Magnificus’
S. puniceus ‘Magnificus’ is a large, spectacular clone of the South African paintbrush lily. I’m not sure if it would be as cold hardy as the typical variety, and I have been hesitant to risk my only plant. Its dormancy is quite short, and I have learned not to try storing it in the crawl space of our house along with other summer-growing tropical bulbs. Inevitably, I discover that it has sprouted sometime in the winter and produced a ghost-white etiolated stem in the darkness.
Paphiopedilum tranlienianum
P.tranlienianum is one of the smallest slipper orchid species. It is endemic to Vietnam and was described in 1998
A seedling of Coryanthes macrantha recently flowered in my collection for the first time, and it is easy to see why these plants fascinate orchid growers. The genus Coryanthes is a group of about 65 species (per the Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families) from Mexico, Central America, and South America. The plants have large pseudobulbs and broad, plicate leaves which are deciduous after several years. They grow epiphytically, generally rooting into arboreal ant nests, and their inflorescences hang down below the pseudobulbs. Due to the lax inflorescence, they are generally best grown in baskets–in a pot, the inflorescence may become lost in the potting mix, its mummified remains only found when the plant is repotted.
The flowers of Coryanthes orchids are truly bizarre, and at first glance can be difficult to interpret in terms of typical orchid anatomy. The flower is dominated by the labellum, the distal end (epichile) of which is thick and waxy and modified into a bucket structure. The proximal end (hypochile), which connects to the base of the column, is fleshy, bulbous, and often rather phallic in appearance. The other two petals are small, strap-like, and generally held parallel to the column. The sepals are like crumpled tissue paper and are held above the rest of the flower in a messy clump. Two nectar glands at the sides of the column drip watery liquid into the bucket.
Coryanthes thivii flower with a drop of liquid about to fall from the column glands into the bucket.
All of this baroque anatomy is in aid of pollination. The hypochile secretes aromatic compounds which are collected by male euglossine bees. The male bees use the fragrances to attract females, so the Coryanthes flower is reponsible for reproduction of both plant and insect. While scratching around to collect the fragrance, some of the bees slip and fall into the bucket. With wet wings, the bees cannot fly out, so they are forced to climb to the end of the bucket where they can squeeze out through a small opening formed by the bucket walls and the end of the column. While pushing past the column, the bees pick up or deposit pollen packets.
Coryanthes thivii flower with the bucket bisected to show the column and exit route.
Over the years, I have owned four Coryanthes species, and I find them easy to grow and flower–for a while. With adequate fertilization and an acidic, moisture retaining substrate like long-fiber sphagnum, the plants grow very fast; my C. thivii seedling bloomed less than a year out of flask and C. elegantium in about two years. Eventually, though, growth slows down and the plants stop producing new pseudobulbs. They hang on for months or years, but eventually the old pseudobulbs die back and that’s the end. I’m not sure whether the plants are naturally short-lived (perhaps their ant-nest habitat is precarious and there’s no selective advantage to long lifespan), or perhaps my plants are missing some critical micronutrient. I’m currently growing C. macrantha and C. leucocorys (not yet flowered), so it remains to be seen if they follow the same trajectory as C. thivii and C. elegantium.
Coryanthes elegantium flowers Coryanthes thivii again
While western Europe has been experiencing historically high temperatures, and the western US is in extreme drought, we have had a more-or-less normal summer. Much of June and early July was dry and hot and humid, but not unusually so; the high temperature recorded on our screened porch this summer was 95.5 F (35.3 C), in-range for the region and time of the year. The dry spell was broken by a brief storm this week which dropped three inches of rain in about half an hour. The garden is currently at its most lush and overgrown point in its annual cycle, and with 80 F (26.7 C) and 94% relative humidity this morning, it feels like we are in the tropics. In keeping with that impression, today’s six plants have a subtropical feeling to them.
1. Platanthera ciliaris (yellow fringed orchid)
Platanthera ciliaris is an orchid that looks as though it should grow in the tropics, but it actually has a native range extending from Florida north to Michigan and New England. In North Carolina, it grows in the mountains, piedmont, and coastal plain. Its distribution in the piedmont seems to be spotty, and although I have seen it growing wild along country roads near the coast, I have never seen it here in central NC. This one is growing in one of my mini-bog planters, a large pot filled with peat, sand, and perlite which sits in a shallow tray of water. P. ciliaris seems relatively easy to grow in costantly damp, acidic soil as long as it is not over-fertilized.
2. Lychnis senno ‘Once in a Vermillion’
I wasn’t sure if this Japanese species would thrive in my garden, but in its second year it has more than doubled in size. It is growing on a dry, sandy slope made drier by the roots of a rapidly growing fig tree.
3. Crinum ‘Ellen Bosanquet’
This classic Crinum hybrid is looking particularly good with six inflorescences this year.
4. Dionaea muscipula (Venus flytrap)
Despite its common name, the ground-level traps of D. muscipula catch more crawling insects than flies. Old capsules with just a few shiny flytrap seeds left in them. Most of the seeds have already dropped into the pot below.
Another plant that looks as though it should be tropical, D. muscipula is actually native to a small region of coastal North and South Carolina centered around Wilmington, NC. These seed-grown plants in my mini-bogs are doing their best to increase their numbers by dropping seeds all over the place.
5. Eucomis ‘Glow Sticks’
Eucomis ‘Glow Sticks’ is noted for its foliage which emerges golden yellow and matures to bright green. Its pale flowers attract our local bees.
6. Chlosyne necteis (silvery checkerspot) on Iris domestica
I haven’t seen many butterflies this year. Even our usual crop of pipevine swallowtail caterpillars is absent from the Aristolochia fimbriata, and there aren’t any black swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with our neighbors’ habit of outdoor spraying against mosquitoes.
Perhaps this little checkerspot is a sign of better things to come. In a few weeks the big clump of Silphium perfoliatum (photo 6) will be flowering, and it usually attracts large numbers of tiger swallowtails whose caterpillars feed on the surrounding trees.
The Propagator is the host of Six on Saturday. Head over there to see his Six for this week and find links to the blogs of other participants.
To close out this series on Encyclia orchids, we should probably consider hybrids. Broadly speaking, Encylia species are genetically compatible with each other and with other members of the subtribe Laeliinae. Natural hybrids among Encyclia species do occur, particularly in the Caribbean, but as far as I am aware, intergeneric hybrids are purely a phenomenon of cultivation. When crossed together, Encyclia species produce hybrids that are, as one might expect, not dissimilar to the original species. The hybridization merely extends the color variation of the genus somewhat and, perhaps, introduces some hybrid vigor. When crossed to other genera in the Laeliinae, Encyclia contributes genes for compact growth and long inflorescences with multiple, relatively small flowers. Other genera such as Cattleya or Guarianthe extend the color palette and shorten the inflorescence. The intergeneric hybrids are often excellent plants for growing on sunny windowsills.
Encyclia Gail Nakagaki
E. Gail Nakagaki
Encyclia Gail Nakagaki (see also photo 4 here) is an excellent example of a primary hybrid between two species. The form and color of the flower is intermediate between its parents, E. alata and E. cordigera, while the fragrance is strongly influenced by E. cordigera.
Encyclia (chiapasensis x bracteata)
E. (chiapasensis x bracteata)
This interesting miniature hybrid was bred by North Carolina orchid grower John Martin, and he very generously gave me a seedling about ten years ago. E. bracteata is a miniature species, while E. chiapasensis is noted for its successive blooming pattern. The hybrid is a dwarf, suited to growing on a windowsill or under lights, which has inherited the successive blooming habit from its larger parent. Instead of producing all of its flowers at one time, each inflorescence produces a few flowers at a time over a long period. A mature plant can be in flower for much of the year, a feature which is obviously appealing to windowsill orchid growers. I am surprised that E. chiapasensis has not been used more by commercial orchid breeders.
Catyclia Cinnamatica
Catyl. Cinnamatica
This hybrid of Encyclia incumbens crossed with Cattleya (formerly Laelia) cinnabarina is a good example of what happens when the non-Encyclia parent is one of the brightly colored, small-flowered Cattleya species in subgenus parviflorae. The plant resembles an Encyclia with elongated pseudobulbs, but the burnt-orange color is not in the natural palette of Encyclia. Because the other parent is one of the lithophytic species formerly called rupiculous laelias, this hybrid wants bright light and excellent drainage.
Enanthleya Middleburg ‘MAJ’ AM/AOS
Eny. Middleburg ‘MAJ’ AM/AOS
Enanthlaya is an artificial genus generated by hybridizing Encyclia, Cattleya, and Guarianthe plants. Enanthleya Middleburg is (Cattleya guttata x Guarianthe bowringiana) x Encyclia phoenicea, and this awarded plant was good enough quality to mericlone and mass market. The beautiful purple color and heavy waxy texture come from both sides of the cross, but the chocolate fragrance is all E. phoenicea.
Enanthleya Joseph Romans x Encyclia cordigera
Eny. Joseph Romans x E. cordigera
This cross was less successful than the previous. While E. phonicea produced nicely proportioned flowers in Eny. Middleburg, the larger lip of E. cordigera has produced ungainly flowers which are crowded together on the short inflorescence influenced by the Enanthleya parent. Perhaps that’s why the cross has not been registered.
Enanthleya Bob Gasko
Eny. Bob Gasko
Not every Enanthleya is purple. The bright orange color of Eny. Bob Gasko comes from rupiculous laelias and Guarianthe aurantiaca. The cross is (Encyclia incumbens x Guarianthe aurantiaca) x (Cattleya neokautskyi x Cattleya harpophylla), so the genetic influence of Encyclia is somewhat attenuated compared to Eny. Middleburg or Eny. Joseph Romans x E. cordigera. Nevertheless, Encyclia is still clearly visible in the compact growth habit and long, beautiful inflorescence. Unfortunately, this hybrid does not have any fragrance that I can detect.
So, that wraps up my brief survey of Encyclia orchids and their cultivation. Hopefully it has given you some idea of why Encyclia is my favorite orchid genus and, perhaps, whetted your appetite for growing one (or a few, or a greenhouse full).
Sweetgum and Pines 