Ionopsis utricularioides, I tied a fallen plant to a guava tree twig to see what happens

Here you can see a new growth starting from the base of the orchid, just above the roots

Last year I noticed that a Ionopsis plant was growing on a branch of a Camasey tree near my house.  I was delighted as it was in the perfect location for me to easily document the life cycle of this species.  Unfortunately, the branch was accidentally broken when a tall truck parked under the tree.  I was dissapointed, but I decided to tie the plant to a guava tree twig to see if it would survive.  

I tied the plant to a twig in the same place where plants in the wild grow, that is under the top leaves of the branch so that a layer of leaves protects the plant from exposure to full sun.  I tied the plant using wire.  I put the plant in the same orientation that I have seen plants in the wild.

For the last six months the plant the plant has been producing only roots, some of which have wandered into the guava tree branch.  For the moment the bulk of the roots are in the original, dead, Camasey branch.  I expect that when the new growth matures it will produce a flush of roots that will colonize the guava branch more fully.

The plant surprised me by producing a small inflorescence, very tiny for plants growing in a living host in the wild.  Because I want to see if the plant will get larger as more of its roots are in the guava branch, I will prevent the plant from developing seed pods.

My expectations is that this plant will grow larger next year and bloom much more prolifically.  One of the things that intrigue me is that many of these plants don't live long in the wild.  I will keep this one under observation to see how it grows, blooms and how long it will last.

To bloom before dying, the precarious life of twig epiphytes

A Dendrophylax that is in a piece of bark the tree has shed sends a root toward the nearest branch

A Miconia tree trunk showing the bark that is about to be shed.

This Leochilus is kept in place by its numerous roots even though
the base of the plant is not attached to the tree

In trees that don't shed their bark the branches can become literally
 carpeted with all manner of epiphytic plants

Tillandsia seedlings in a twig of an orange tree. 

A Campylocentrum has found a favorable spot on a branch and is fruiting heavily.  The Ionopsis on the smaller branch will probably fall along with the dead branch in which it is growing.

Most people picture the life cycle of epiphytic orchids as one that is fairly sedate.  They have the impression that once an orchid germinates in a tree it can spend decades growing and blooming seasonally with little change to its circumstances.   This is true for many species, but not for all.   In particular, the life of orchids that prefer to grow in twigs is a race to bloom before the tree sheds the bark or the twig dies.

Why would an orchid grow under such precarious circumstances?  My own guess is that these orchids are exploiting a niche where they face little competition from other plants.    I have observed that the local orchids sometimes develop such extensive root systems that they alone can keep the plant attached to the tree when the twig or branch dies.  Also, they seem to bloom while quite small, no seven year wait to reach adult size and bloom with these orchids.  However even with all these adaptations life is precarious for these orchids, if one walks on the forest after a particularly windy storm it is common to find fallen twigs often with Ionopsis orchids on them.  In the forest around my house you can find Dendrophylax, Ionopsis, Campylocentrum and Leochilus in the branches of Miconia and Guava trees.

Ionopsis utricularioides (Swartz) Lindley

This plant fell from a citrus tree, it was put in the branches of a guava tree.

This plant was attached to this branch of the same tree where it was originally growing after it fell from the canopy.

This orchid is found in North America, South America and the West Indies.  It is common in those parts of Puerto Rico where it’s climatic and moisture needs are met.  This means that it can be found in many places in the northern part of Puerto Rico where it is moister and that it is much rarer in the drier southern areas¹.  In my experience I have always found this plant in places where moisture is consistently high such as near the sea shore and in the proximity of watercourses and swampy areas.  I have seen it in the area of Manati, Arecibo, Utuado and Morovis.   The plants have been growing in Guava, Crescentia, Randia, and in assorted citric trees. 

When I take a walk thorough places were this orchid is abundant, I can almost always count on finding one or two plants that have fallen from the canopy.   It is not rare to see plants hanging by its roots from a dead twig.    I used to take home these fallen plants to see them bloom and to try to grow them.  Keeping these plants proved to be an exceedingly frustrating experience.  All the plants I collected eventually died.  The way they died was in every case the same, the plants would bloom, sometime after that, the leaves would start showing signs of yellowing or rot, defoliation and death would follow.  The plants I normally find in the ground, except for one case, have been small.

After a few plants had departed to the great tree fern plaque in the sky I gave up on keeping them with my orchids and started putting them in twigs of the guava trees that grow wild around my house.   None of the small plants I found ever grew large enough to produce the impressive inflorescences that large specimens of this plant are capable of producing in the wild.  The typical inflorescence was relatively small, had one or two branches and was comparatively few flowered.  In only one case in my experience a plant lived a few years, but this was probably because the circumstances of that particular plant and the things I did to try to keep it alive.

One day, after an especially nasty thunderstorm that also brought some uncommonly strong winds for the area, I found a large plant of this species in the ground under a guava tree.  The canopy of this tree was about sixteen feet tall and hosted a number of large plants of this species of orchid.  The twig where the orchid was growing had snapped during the storm.  I carefully tied the plant to a lower branch of the same tree, trying to approximate the way it was growing when still on the tree branch. In time the plant sent roots into the branch and seemed no worse from the wear.

When the plant bloomed it produced a large inflorescence. The inflorescence it produced was not as large in size as that of the plants growing near the canopy.  Because I had read (sadly I can’t recall where) that if the plant was allowed to set seed this hastened its demise, I ruthlessly pinched off any flower that seemed to have been fertilized.  The plant survived a second year and I then produced a smaller inflorescence than its first one.   I also cut all possible developing seed pods out that year.  The plant survived a third year.  I was not paying close attention to the plant and several seed pods were produced.   The plant died that year. 

In the years between 2005 and 2007, this plant was plentiful where I live and large plants could be seen blooming magnificently on the tops of guava trees.  But after 2007 this orchid decreased greatly in abundance, to the point that right now no large plant can be found anywhere on the guava trees around the house.  Even small became scarce.   A few days ago I found a small plant in an orange tree.  This is the first one I had seen in more than two years.    The guava trees that hosted the plants back in 2005 are now completely free of them. 

It is common to see this plant in local orchid collections.  Some people mount them in tree fern along with the twig in which they are attached.   I read in an old American Orchid Society Bulletin, that some growers have been able to keep this plant alive for years, even in the absence of a living host for the plant.  Locally I don’t know if anyone has been able to maintain these plants alive for an extended period of time.   I have seen photos in the Internet of specimen plants with several huge inflorescences, the most likely explanation for these specimens is that they are wild collected plants potted together.

¹ Ackerman, James D.  1995.  An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 

Ionopsis satyrioides, an orchid native of Puerto Rico that is a twig epiphyte

Close up of a flower 

A close up of the inflorescence

Inflorescence on the plant

Sometimes the seed will germinate on dead leaves

Ionopsis satyrioides is an epiphytic orchid that I have seen in the Rio Abajo forest and elsewhere in the island of Puerto Rico.  I have found it growing as a twig epiphyte on the branches of wild guava trees.  I have seen the lifecycle of this orchid unfold in a wild grove of guava trees.  In the first stage the seedlings invade the branches and twigs of a tree.   Most of the twigs that host them die, sometimes a whole branch will die.  As the twigs die their leaves fall and the orchids are exposed to full sunlight.  The mature plants, which are fairly small, then produce their few flowered inflorescences.   Many of the flowers are pollinated and produce seed.  By the time the seed pods have opened and released the seeds the twigs are in an advanced state of rot and most of the plants fall to the ground and die.  Sometimes if the guava tree is small and has been colonized by a large number of orchids, the entire tree will die.  I have rescued fallen plants and set them on other branches but they die anyway after they fall from their tree of birth.  On rare occasions you can see plants of this species in captivity, almost all with their roots still clinging to the remains of the twig where they grew in the wild.  But the existence of these plants in captivity seems to be as ephemeral as the life of the fallen plants in the wild.