Hurricane Maria caused grievous damage to the forest where I live. Many trees fell and the canopy was destroyed in most of the forest. Humidity and rainfall dropped. Because there was no canopy the area temperature went up. Also without the canopy the full power of the tropical sun hit all the understory plants burning them severely and killing some. I lost many of my orchids to the changed environmental circumstances. But some survived through it all. Among them Dendrobium harveyanum. In the last month it has not rained and the plants are suffering. I wonder if this period of low humidity triggered this out of season blooming of the harveyanum.
I'm sorry to hear about the challenges faced by your community in the Hurricane Maria aftermath. Last year, I wrote a blog post on the Environmental Protection Agency's website about challenges accessing electricity and clean water in PR. I hope things have improved since your December post.
ReplyDeleteDid the Den parishii survive?