Laelia lueddemannii naturalized in a tree in Mayaguez

This orchid was planted on this tree in the campus of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez around the middle of the twenty century.  When I first saw this plant in 1980 it was already large.  It was put there by a biology professor that kept orchids as a hobby.  In those times keeping orchids was a high class hobby as most orchids were either too rare or expensive for the general public.  As you can see from the photos I took last March, the plants are healthy and good for at least another fifty years.  By the way, they have survived hurricanes unscratched, at most just a few pseudobulbs were loosened and fell.

Dendrobium nobile Lindley 1830. Culture: A plant that has bec naturalized on a tree near the town of Corozal, Puerto Rico

Dendrobium nobile is a species that is common in orchid collections in the Island of Puerto Rico.  Unfortunately, few people know or understand the seasonal cycle of this species.  As a result one sees many plants that are quite large and healthy and yet bloom poorly or not at all.  The most common error in cultivating this orchid is keeping it in too much shade.  This plant grows best when cultivated in strong light, it can even stand the full strength of the tropical sun.   However in nature the amount of light exposure this orchid gets varies with the seasons.  During most of the year the plant grows under a leafy canopy, but as the dry season progresses the trees in its native haunts lose their leaves an the plant is exposed to full sun.  Seasonal low temperatures and a dry spell are also elements that happen in this plant habitat that is often not replicated in captivity.

This particular plant is growing ten feet up in a tree in a fork between branches.  The canes are getting a healthy amount of  sunlight because the tree has a fairly open canopy.  The plant experiences a seasonal dip in night temperatures that resembles somewhat what it gets in its native range, although in Corozal, low temperatures normally don't often stray lower that the low sixties.   It is blooming now in what is locally the height of the dry season.

This is clone has nicer flowers than most other plants I have seen locally.  I examined this tree and others that were nearby but I didn't find seedlings.  The plant has no signs of having ever produced a seed pod.  I did find a small seedling under the plant but it was evident it was a vegetative propagation from an old cane.

It is clear the environment in this locality is favorable for the growth of this species.  I have seen even larger specimens of this orchid growing at higher altitudes in Puerto Rico.  Those plants grew well and bloomed abundantly, in contrast with the plants one often sees in the coast.  The common circumstances of the plants I have seen blooming locally is that they were all naturalized to trees in sunny areas and that they were in places that consistently experience temperatures in the range of sixty Fahrenheit or lower during the dry season.

Some naturalized orchids in the town of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

This is a Brassia, I have not been able to determine if it is a hybrid or a species

Possibly Laelia lueddemanni or a related species

This photo is used to illustrate how the flower of the Laelia on the tree look,
This plant is not the same clone as the plant on the tree.

A humongous plant of Dendrobium moschatum, see photo of flower below

A different view of the clump of Laelia lueddemanni

Rhyncholaelia dygbyiana

These orchids were put in this large tree many decades ago.  I can attest that all these plants were alreay in place and well established by the year 1980.  The large plant of Dendrobium moschatum seems to have been planted in the 1940's.  All these plants are surviving entirely on their own and have weathered uncountable storms and a few hurricanes.  If you look at the branch were the Brassia is growing, it is clear part of it snapped away years ago.   Unfortunately some of the orchids I saw in the 1980's died out or fell from the tree.  I recall there was a Myrmecophila, a Cattleya (possibly skinnery) and a Laelia similar to purpurata that are no longer in the tree.  Given that some were pretty high in the canopy, it is unlikely they were removed by humans as it would have taken some large equipment to reach so high.  I hope they remain in the tree for long years to come to delight and intrigue future generations of orchidists.

Phaius tankervilleae (Banks) Blume 1856, an old heirloom clone vs a plant for sale in a recent orchid show.

The top photo is of an old heirloom plant that seems to have been in cultivation in Puerto Rico for decades.  The bottom photo is of a plant in an orchid show, last January.  The heirloom clone has flowers that hold their floral segments parallel to the ground so normally one only see the white backing of the floral segments and the lip.  As you can see in the lower photo the flowers of the plant at the show hold their flowers in a way that you can really appreciate their rich coloring, also the flowers are much larger, as is the plant.  A few years ago I brought one of this large and beautiful plants, it thrived as long as I gave it devoted care, the moment my attention flagged the plant produced significantly smaller growths.    Th heirloom plant survives and blooms with a bare minimum of care, such was not my experience with the newer richer, larger colored clones.  The newer clones can produce amazing bloomings, but to perform at that level they need devoted care during their growth phase.

Arundina graminifolia an exotic orchid that has become naturalized in Puerto Rico

A flower of the most common form

A flower of the dwarf form

A flower of the dwarf form in the middle of a group of canes of this orchid

A side view of the flower of a form that seems to be uncommon in the extreme

Excuse me for the poor photo but it is the only front view I have of this mysterious flower

Arundina graminifolia is an orchid native of Southeast Asia that has become naturalized in Puerto Rico.   It can be found in the wild from Sri Lanka and India on the Indian Ocean to the Caroline Islands and Tahiti on the Pacific Ocean.  It is a vigorous plant that has escaped cultivation in areas outside its natural geographical range for example the Hawaiian Islands and Puerto Rico.  In Puerto Rico it has been reported from moist areas in the east of the island.

I have seen it growing in gardens all over the island sometimes forming huge specimen plants.  The tallest plants I have seen were in cultivation right on the ground in gardens in the foothills of the Luquillo Mountains, some seemed to be close to seven feet tall.  There is a huge specimen plant growing in a garden that sits by the side of the road that goes from Utuado to Adjuntas that is notable due to the large number of flowers it can have at the same time.  The plants are known locally as bamboo orchid due to a fancied similarity between the tall canes of this orchid and the canes of the bamboo plant.

I have seen several variations of this plant growing in captivity.  The most common form of Arundina in Puerto Rico is the tall one that can grow to six feet or more.  This form is nearly ubiquitous in the gardens of orchid growers.  However a dwarf form has become very popular in the last few years and it not rare to see this form growing as a pot plant.  It can also grow into a large clump of stems but since it is just a few feet tall even large clumps can be accommodated in a limited space.  The flowers of the tall type and the smaller type are quite similar, they differ mainly in the way the flower are presented and in some details of structure of the lip.  In its native haunts there are several varieties that formerly were classified as different species, these are now considered variations of a single species. Recently a white flowered form is sometimes being offered for sale at orchid shows but I have yet to see one blooming in a local garden.

Intriguingly there is a fourth type of Arundina in Puerto Rico.  The lip of the flowers of these plants is very different from the two more common types.  I have searched to see if this type of Arundina has been reported elsewhere but so far it has been absent from the books and Internet sources that I have accessed.   As far as I know this mysterious Arundina type is not in wide cultivation and I have seen mature plants of this type only in one private garden.  I was told that this type of plant was found in a population of feral plants in the south east of the island.

This orchid is easy to cultivate in Puerto Rico and responds vigorously to good care.  To cultivate this plant you need a eight or ten inch wide pot to accommodate its rampant growth.  The media should be coarse and heavy to avoid having the pot tip over.  Cow manure is an excellent additive as a top dressing to the media in the pot.  You need to water this plant abundantly as this helps the plant achieve its tallest size.  Large vigorous plants can produce single or branched inflorescences that can produce blooms sequentially for weeks or even for months.  When the inflorescences stop producing flowers they produce small plantlets.

These little plants can be detached when they stop growing.  I put them in water to stimulate the production of roots.  When the small plants have several roots they are transplanted to a pot with a mixture of potting soil and compost that is kept moist until the plants have been able to develop a significant root system.  This plant root system tends to be superficial so when growing the tall type in a pot it is useful to have a stake in the pot to tie the canes.  Young canes don’t need staking to stay upright but canes seen to become weaker with age and prone to tip over. Once the plant produces its second cane it can be treated as an adult plant.  Unlike most orchids this one is easy to grow into a specimen plant in a comparably short time.