Hemichromis lifalili, las crías llegan a los dos meses de edad con los padres.

El macho ha crecido a un tamaño superior a la hembra

Cría cambiando de patrón de color

El macho con algunas de la crias

 Las crías de los Hemichromis lifalili están cerca de cumplir los dos meses.  Para mi deleite los padres demuestran una tolerancia sorprendente con respecto a sus crías.  Porque me sorprende que los toleren?  Porque los peces Joya son conocidos por el fenómeno de canibalismo filial.  Que es el canibalismo filial?  El canibalismo filial ocurre cuando los adultos de una especie consumen a sus crías.  El ejemplo más trágico de este fenómeno es el pez ángel  Pterophyllum scalare. El pez ángel ha sido reproducido en masa en cautiverio décadas quitándole los huevos a los adultos y criándolos artificialmente.  Esto ha causado que los ángeles hayan perdido su instinto de proteger a sus crías y siempre terminen devorando sus huevos o crías.  Hace como diez años leí un artículo que decía que el 98% de los ángeles eran incapaces de completar los pasos mas elementales del ciclo reproductivo.

 En el caso del pez Joya el canibalismo filial se manifiesta cuando los padres pierden el instinto de cuidar a sus crías y las tratan como una presa más que está disponible para ser consumida.    Pero es importante aclarar que distinto a los peces ángeles el canibalismo en los peces Joya no ocurre al azar o por falta de instintos protectores, generalmente los padres se vuelven intolerantes de sus crías cuando están hormonalmente predispuestos a desovar nuevamente.    

Mis lifalili no han vuelto a desovar y hasta han engordado un poco desde el último desove.  Lo que creo es que las bajas temperaturas que han predominado en mi área por las pasadas semanas han inhibido el ciclo reproductivo de los adultos.  La temperatura local ha bajado a los 64F grados por la noche y por el día se mantiene en los setenta.  Estas temperaturas son comparativamente frías para estos peces del área tropical de África.  Sin embargo no han mostrado ninguna señal de molestia o daño por causa de las temperaturas en el rango de los 60F.

Las crías ya no huyen de mí, al contrario, responden a mi presencia con entusiasmo y nadan hacia el cristal cada vez que me aparezco cerca de la pecera.  Consumen con gusto todo lo que les ofrezco de comer, incluso atacan pedazos de comida muy grandes para ellos.  Los pececillos más grandes ya están adoptando la coloración de dos puntos, uno en la base el rabo y otro en el medio del cuerpo, que es característica de los juveniles y adultos no reproductivos de lifalili.  He visto algunos de los pececillos incluso morder a sus padres, los padres no parecen molestarse por semejante impertinencia de sus crías.

El macho ya es significativamente más grande que la hembra y demuestra una conducta más confiada y curiosa ante mi presencia.  El color rojo que lo caracterizaba cuando ocurrió el desove es difícil de ver ya que ha adoptado una coloración de un color marrón oscuro.  Los puntos azules siguen siendo notables y se han vuelto el detalle más sobresaliente de la coloración del macho.

Ya se pueden ver en las crías los puntos negros característicos de los juveniles y los adultos

El macho no es tan tímido como la hembra y se acerca al cristal si algo estimula su curiosidad

Pleurothallis ruscifolia a common but rarely noticed rainforest orchid

The flowers of Pleurothallis ruscifolia are small. green and translucid.

Pleuth. ruscifolia plants can be very common in their favored habitat

Pleurothallis ruscifolia is a small epiphytic orchid that is fairly easy to find in the upper eaches of the Sierra de Luquillo.   Because of its inconspicuous and small flowers it is not a subject of horticultural interest except for an extremely small number of orchidist whose focus is on orchids native of PR.  Even among those orchidists this species doesn't seem to be in favor as I have yet to see one of those even among the educational orchid displays that are specifically made to present a selection of native orchid species.

An extremely rare photo of a Triphora orchid from Puerto Rico

The photo was taken by Dr. Thomas White in the Sierra de Luquillo

A friend of mine Dr. Thomas White was hiking in the depths of one of the largest patches of primeval forest left in the island of Puerto Rico when he saw this flower. He took this photo and went on to do his work searching for rare endangered birds. It turns out to be a tropical Tripora. Photos of Triphora blooming in PR are unheard of as far as I am concerned. My botanists friends in the island are unfamiliar with this plant. It turns out that there are three species of Triphora in the island and this plant doesn't seem to quite fit any of them. Compounding the problem is the fact that reports say that one of the species has never been found with flowers. So with my friends permision I am posting the photo here to see if anyone can ID it. This photo is all we have as the plant appears to have vanished.

This plant was found by chance and the person who took the photo knew it was an orchid but didn't know how rare it is to see photos of this one. There are four species of Triphora reported from PR, trianthophora, hassleriana, surinamensis and lateralis. The specimens labeled trianthophora were reassesed as lateralis. However since lateralis has never been found in PR with flowers this ID is to a certain extent tentative. But the unusual disjunct range extension for trianthophora from Florida to PR, to quote Ackermann, may mean that it is not trianthophora.

Note:  It may be trianthophora after all.  The area where this plant grows was severely damaged by hurricane Maria.  It was an area with very old growth trees.  Hopefully the plant survived.



Lepanthes woodburyana one of the commonest endemic Lepanthes

Lepanthes woodburyana

Sierra palm forest/elfin forest transcition area, many Lepanthes are found here.  The ground is from wet to soping wet year round.  The view is toward Pico del Este

Sometimes the inflorescence is over the top of the leaf instead of under it which is the norm.

This plant was found in the Sierra Palm forest

Two inflorescences plus one seed capsule





A plant at a local orchid show, a rare sight indeed.  The many stems and flowers on the plant speak of a skilled and knowledgeable grower.

Lepanthes woodburyana is one of the most common Lepanthes species I have seen in El Yunque forest. They can be found growing in tree trunks, twigs and riverside boulders. They seem to do best in areas where the environmental humidity remains consistently high year round such as the margins of rivers and creeks. It might be a startling thought that humidity could be low in such a place as a rainforest but I have had the experience of visiting the forest at a time when a dry period has lingered long enough for the moss in the trunks of trees to become bone dry. I suspect that these plants are vulnerable to the spells of dry weather and low humidity that sometimes happen even in the depths of the rainforest. The reason I think these plants are vulnerable to spells of unfavorable weather is because over the years I have seen groups and colonies of these plants suddenly disappear from places where they were common and easy to find. At first I was alarmed when a group of plants could not be found and even thought that someone in the orchid hobby had collected them. But when plants disappeared from sites where the possibility of them having been collected was unlikely in the extreme I discarded this possibility. Also the number of orchid growers that grow Lepanthes in the island of PR is so vanishingly small that I have yet to see a single native Lepanthes in cultivation in the collections of any of the many orchidists that I know personally. However they do show up, on rare ocassions, at orchid shows. In fact if you ask local orchidists about Lepanthes many will be unfamiliar with them and of the remainder that do know them most would hardly consider them a subject fit for cultivation. For most orchid growers in PR growing orchids means keeping large flowered Classic Cattleyas, in this light Lepanthes, and many other tiny flowered genera have flowers that are simply too insignificant to bother with.

Because of this unpopularity the local Lepanthes are happily left alone in the wild and to survive or die on their own terms and according to the vagrancies of the seasons and the climate. My biggest difficulty with the local Lepanthes is the lack of photos of plants whose identity has been certified by a botanical authority. Even with the botanical descriptions, the taxonomic keys and line drawings are a challenge for an amateur, it can be difficult to determine the ID of a plant without a color drawing or photo.

There are several Lepanthes species in PR and perhaps with a single exception, they are not endangered or particularly rare in their favored habitats. They can be easily found in the wild habitat but you will have to bring a magnifying glass to really enjoy their beauty. They are best left in their native haunts because they will not tolerate even slight neglect in cultivation. A Cattleya can easily endure two weeks without watering with no ill consequences. Lepanthes will die the moment they desiccate which can happen in less than a week during particularly windy spell in the dry season or at the height of the summer when temperatures are at their yearly peak.

Lepanthes caritensis a rare Puerto Rican endemic orchid

Lepanthes caritensis

This orchid is rarely seen and even less often photographed.   Found only in particular mountains of the east of Puerto Rico this orchid is quite tiny and often overlook.  At one time they were thought to ocurr in a very restricted area where only 196 individuals were known to ocurr.  Amazingly half of the plants of the species were found in a single tree!  But it now appears to have a wider distribution than was realized.  I found a few plants but sadly after hurricane Earl thinned the canopy in the area where they grew they dissapeared.   Hopefully one day I will find more plants to photograph.  This plant is not in circulation in the orchid growing circles, I know of just a single plant in captivity.  The photo I saw of the plant is apparently being cared by a particularly skilled orchidist as shows it thriving under cultivation.  However I ask you not to remove these plants from the wild as keeping them healthy and alive away from their natural habitat is not and endeavour for the casual orchidist and most likely will result in the death of the plant.

Fragrant Dendrobium, ideal for a perfumed tropical garden



Dendrobium anosmum, all plant of this species I have grown are capable of producing the strong sweet fragrance characteristic of this species, the scientific name, anomum, which means without fragrance, must have been given by an anosmic individual!  This species when well bloomed can produce a powerful fragrance that can be clearly smell from many feet away.

 I have grown Dendrobium orchids for many years and it is one of my favorite orchid genera. Of the Dendrobium, the ones I like best are the fragrant species and hybrids. In the following article I will share details on the species and varieties I have grown, on their fragrances and on the particular quirks that the various species have exhibited under my culture.




Many years ago, in a book whose title I can’t remember, I read about a circular garden that was divided in six parts. Each part of the garden was devoted to a different sense. The garden had five wedges, where all the wedges converged in the center there was another circle, this one devoted to the sixth sense, intuition, and planted with only with golden flowers. This garden captured my imagination, but unfortunately I could not make one. My work as a wildlife biologist has meant that I have lived either in urban areas near universities or deep in protected forests, in these places this type of garden was impossible. But in these settings orchids allowed me to enjoy delightful fragrances, lovely colors and interesting shapes without the need of large spaces, digging, or modifying the landscape in any significant way. Orchids had also the virtue of portability, when I moved, (something that has happened several times during my career), I just took them with me with little problem.


Of all the orchids I have, the Dendrobium represent the best combination of ease of culture, resistance to pests and consistent flowering. This didn’t happen by chance, I did my homework and tried to acquire those species that were best suited for my climatic conditions. Getting the information on the cultural needs of the particular Dendrobium you want to grow is very important as some species need a certain degree of seasonal variation of temperature and moisture to stimulate the buds in the cane to change from the vegetative to flowering mode. Pest resistance is important to me as I don’t want to have to continually use pesticides just to keep my plants in good condition. I do use pesticides but on spot applications and not as preventive measures. In respect to consistent flowering, taking care to give the plants the proper culture they need goes a long way toward achieving regular flowering even on plants that are sometimes labeled as difficult. I suspect that some of the difficulties faced by growers getting their plants to bloom may have to do with growers trying to grow them under conditions that are not really suited to that particular species.

I grow my orchids outside, in a terrace and in a shade house. I live near the central mountain range of Puerto Rico at an altitude of 1000 feet (350 mts), near the center of the Rio Abajo State Forest, where I work. The local temperatures range from 60F (16C) at night at the peak of winter to 90F at daytime in the height of summer, daily temperature variation is about 10 to 15 degrees. There are just two seasons, a dry and a wet one. Humidity fluctuates most of the year between 70 and 80% but varies from 40% during the day at the peak of the dry season to close to 100% at night during the rainy season. The plants are watered weekly during if it doesn’t rain. The plants are regularly watered during the dry season with the exception of those that need a seasonal dry spell. The plants receive fertilizer only when they are growing. Some effort was made to find the optimal sun exposure for each species. It was found that most bloom much better with several hours of exposure to full sunlight in the morning.

Dendrobium anosmum alba, small flowered, small lipped clone

Dendrobium anosmun var. huttoni

The most common type of Den. anosmum is also the most floriferous, it is capable of producing more than sixty flowers on a single cane

Den. anomum variety from Thailand, the flower is suspiciously similar to Den. Nestor but the canes are unique and not similar at all to those of Nestor

Den. Nestor clone, favoring the anosmum parent, but note the fuzzy lip that betrays the parishii ancestry, at time sold as anosmum, all Nestor I have grown have the sweet fragrance associated with anosmum

A Den. Nestor that favors the parishii parent

A Den. Nestor that is quite distinct from most other forms hybrid

A very small lipped form of Den. Nestor with very thick textured flowers

In the front, Den. farmeri var. albiflorum, an outstading clone of this type, in the background a typically colored form. The fragrance is faint but clearly felt when there are many flowers

A flower of Den. farmeri albiflorum

Den. farmeri, a faint fragrance

Dendrobium harveyanum, formerly an extremerly difficult to find species, a slight honey fragrance

Den. crumenatum, powerfully fragrant at certain times of the day

Den. parishii, delightfully frangrant with a sweet note

Den. chrysotoxum, a sweet slight honey fragrance

Den. fimbriatum var. oculatum, a sour citrical fragrance

Den. nobile, a slight sweet fragrance

Dendrobium moschatum it has complex fragrance delightful to some, unpleasant to others

Dendrobium spectabile it has a complex fragrance sweet to some, to others like crushed stinkbugs