Psychilis krugii Sauleda, Psy kraenzlinii (Bello) Sauleda y Psy. x raganii

Psy. x raganii, hybrid of Psy. kraenzlinii and Psy. krugii

Psy. kraenzlinii

Psy. krugii

Psychilis kraenzlinii (Bello) Sauleda 1988, from the north coast of Puerto Rico

This is Psychilis x raganii, sometimes shown as Psy. kraenzlinii Note the different coloring

These are the first flowers of Psychilis kraenzlinii I have been able to see in its native habitat.  These flowers are from the north coast, near the town of Isabela in Puerto Rico.   It is not easy to see these plants in the wild, the habitat they favor, near the coast, is also a favorite of humans, which means where there were strand of native vegetation there are now vacation homes near the beach.  Also people will collect these plants from the wild, which means that if you are in a place where humans have easy access the probability of seeing these plants in the wild is essentially nil.

I had seen these plants previously in orchid shows but never in their natural haunts.  Unfortunately these plants almost always die in captivity, due to the lack of knowledge of their cultural needs buy the people that collected them.  Paradoxically, all the ones I have seen that survived in captivity where in the hands of people that just tied them to a tree and essentially ignored them. 

There are exceptions to this rule as I have seen one or two large specimen plants in local exhibitions.  However I have been unable to talk with the owners of the large plants, so perhaps they way they cultivated the plants was to give them careful neglect.  

Psychilis kraenzlinii is sometimes confused with Psy. x raganii.  The two orchids are similar, their main difference is their color and in technical details of the callus of the lip.  Psy, raganii has a reddish color as you can see in the photo.

Psychilis x raganii, the serendipitious discovery of a rarely photographed orchid

About a year ago I heard from a friend that he had found a population of Psychilis kraenzlinii in the southwest of the island.   He gave me the directions but it turned out that finding the plants was a lot harder than just arriving at the place.   Coordinating a joint visit to the site turned out to be an almost impossible task due to our very different work schedules and the fact that we live pretty far away from each other.

But recently we managed to find time to visit the place.  The orchids are not located in an area legally protected by the state as a natural area, but paradoxically, it is better protected that some orchids in state forests by simple dint of being located by the treacherous terrain and the difficulty getting there. No, I won’t reveal where it is, as I am sure collectors would clear the spot in a hurry. Even a single determined person could severely damage this population.

When I arrived at the area where the orchids live I found it was quite unlike any other orchid habitat I had visited before.  Rather than pristine habitat, it turned out to be a crazy kilt landscape of secondary scrubby vegetation, patches of woodland, cow pastures and places where (for inexplicable reasons) every bit of plant cover has been scrapped away until the bedrock as exposed.    Amid all this a reasonably healthy population of plants survived. 

How could this be so?  I think there are several reasons for the survival of this population of orchids.  First, the plants are not visible from the road.   My suspicion is that any plant that blooms near the road is quickly collected.   Second, the area has an impressive density of poisonous, spiny and toxic plants, making even a short hike a thoroughly unpleasant not to say unhealthy experience.   Third, the ground in the spot where the orchids grow is uneven and covered everywhere with a loose rocky soil that makes walking hard and that can cause a nasty fall. By the way, did I mention the rocks are sharp edged, I learned this the hard way.  In essence the plants survive because they are not collected and the spot where they grow is inimical to human presence.

I was overjoyed when I saw the plants thinking I had found Psy. kraenzlinii, but when I got closer to them it was clear to me that some were different from the typical kraenzlinii under cultivation.   Their orange-red color of the flowers and the yellow tint of the columns was unlike anything I seen before.  Intrigued, I took photos of the flowers of as many plants as I could to get an idea of the variability of the population.  When I got home I checked the volume six of Carl Withner’s book, Cattleyas and their relatives.¹  From there I got the ID of these orchids.  It turned out that at least one of the plants was not Psy. kraenzlinnii but Psy. x raganii.

Psy. x raganii is a hybrid of Psy. kraenzlinii and Psy. krugii, it occurs where the distribution of both species overlap.   I have never seen any plant of this hybrid under cultivation and I could locate only a single photo of this species on the Internet.  This hybrid was described in 1988 by Ruben Sauleda.     Psy x raganii. has a smaller flower size than kraenzlinii, the callus of the midlobe of the labellum is yellow or pale rose carmine to white and basally broader.²

¹ Withner, Carl. 1996. Cattleyas and their relatives, volume VI, The Bahamian and Caribbean species.

² Sauleda, Ruben. 1988. Phytologya 65(1): 1-33.