Cookies
4540
An oddball rarity from South India
Jan 16, 2022,13:00 PM
Cookies sends his best wishes to everyone in the forum. He has been caught up with life in an unexpected way, but is trying to find time to be where he really enjoys.
Today, he will share with you about an oddball ladyslipper orchid found in South India. So odd, it is a mystery.
It is quite beautiful, with yellow and black, resembling the colours of a tiger. There’s something about tigers and this year.
Illustration: taken from wikipedia
Credit: Trivaldo’s orchid blog
Paphiopedilum druryi belongs to a genus of orchids found in Asia. It has relatives in other genera, such as Cypripediums found in Europe, and Selenipedium from South America. These plants are valued for long-lasting showy blossoms.
In the theory of evolution, Darwin wrote about speciation, a process where organisms get isolated from their main population, and become different over time. This orchid is strange because, it’s closest relatives are found in North India, and no one knows how it got isolated in South India, with no relatives nearby. It is a very long way to travel between New Dehli and Tamil Nadu.
It is said, this plant grows on rocky grasslands, and the main population was wiped out when a bushfire swept through it’s tiny population. I’ve never met a collector who has seen this plant grow in the wild. Seldom if ever do orchid growers grow this orchid. Maybe it is just not worth the effort, and that there are more spectacular orchids out there that are easier to grow.
Adding to the oddity of this plant are the long rhizomes it produces. Some say they reach 1.5-2m in the wild. The closest relatives rarely produce rhizomes, and when they do, they are perhaps 5cm or so. How did it evolve to produce these long stems?
I’ve tried and wasted so much money on this elusive plant. It never seemed to grow well for me. I’m trying again, and this time, am taking no chances. I grow it under marine aquarium lights now.
The description of the plant:
Erect terrestrial herb up to 25 cm tall, forming large clumps of up to 35 shoots. Stems very short, at intervals of one to many cm on a rhizome, 5–7-leaved; rhizomes up to 150 cm long, stout, creeping
I believe, if all goes well. It should mature in 2 years. It is a very long time. I will wait for this elusive orchid to bloom and continue hoping.