In January of 2013 I had the
pleasure to visit the island of Saint Croix.
I was invited by Edna Hamilton (the President of the St. Croix Orchid
society), to talk about the culture of Dendrobium
species and hybrids. I took advantage of
the occasion to see the forests and beaches of St. Croix. This, of course, included looking out for
orchid plants in bloom to photograph. I had the pleasure to spend some time talking
to Mike Evans the wildlife manager of the Sandy Point national wildlife
refuge. We know each other from pretty
far back, in fact he worked for the Puerto Rican Parrot project (the project in
which I work now) when it was starting back in the seventies. I also met Rudy O’Reilly (President of the
St. Croix Bonsai Society), which studied at the Mayaguez Campus of the
University of Puerto Rico at the same time I was studying there. But I digress, let’s go back to the orchids.
I saw a population of Psychilis macconnealliae growing on low
bushes over sandy soil. Most of the
plants were growing a few inches over the sand, perching near the base of low
bushes. The condition of the plants was
variable, the healthiest ones I found were growing on larger bushes and were
not too close to the soil. The larger
plants were those that were sheltered from the sunlight by a layer of leaves
that was not so dense as cast a deep shadow.
Plants growing exposed to full sunlight looked stunted and had lots of
anthocyanin in the leaves giving them a reddish coloring. I didn’t find any really big,
multi-pseudobulb plants, but this is probably a consequence of the fact that my
schedule only allowed me to see a small patch of their habitat.
I visited their habitat in the
morning so that I didn’t experience the worst of the heat and sunlight, but it
is clear that the climatic and environmental conditions in which the plant grow
in St. Croix is pretty much the same as that in which other Psychilis grow. From looking at the way the plants grow in
the wild I can assert with confidence that these orchids would surely die under
the care of the average hobbyist. I can
think of nothing more lethal for these plants than putting them in a bark
filled pot and keeping them slightly moist (a common recommendation about
watering orchids on older orchid books). By the way, I don’t collect wild orchids, I
prefer to enjoy them in their natural habitat. If you are doing botanical research on orchids
and want access to plants of these species, I advise you contact Prof. Ackerman
from the University of Puerto Rico.
Although, from time to time, you
can see clones of Psychilis macconelliae
exhibited in orchid shows in Puerto Rico, all the ones I have seen are from
Vieques Island or from Puerto Rico. The
St, Croix Psy. macconnelliae is quite
distinct in color and easily distinguished from them. To me the form from Puerto Rico and the form
St. Croix look more different from each other than Psychilis monensis and Psychilis
krugii from Puerto Rico. But this is
work for a taxonomist, perhaps one day someone will look at this question.
1 comment:
Lindas plantas e imagens.
abraços
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