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.

Prescottia oligantha, one of the tiniest native orchids of Puerto Rico

Prescottia oligantha is one of the tiniest native orchids in Puerto Rico.  The plant itself is of a small size, in some cases just a single two or three inch leaf growing flush against the forest floor.  I found this plant growing in the Maricao State Forest in a slope near a cliff.  The plant was composed of a single two inch leaf and a thin inflorescence with tiny non resupinate flowers.  Once you are in their favored habitat plants are not that difficult to find as you can see the leaves in the forest floor easily enough.  But the flowers are so small they demand a magnifying glass or a faily good macro lens if you want to get a good look or a reasonably good photo.  This plant is not horticulturaly significant.  Given their tiny, hard to see flowers, it is no surprise that they are virtually unknown in the local orchid growing circles.

Cranichis muscosa a diminute terrestrial orchid

This terrestrial orchid can be common in its preferred habitats in moist forests areas at higher elevations in the mountains of the island of Puerto Rico.  I have found it growing in roadside areas and places in the forest where a tree fall or some other disturbance has opened the canopy and allowed unfiltered sunlight to reach the forest floor.  I have also found it in grassy areas near the towers at the peak of El Yunque.  The diminutive white flowers are not of horticultural interest and these plants are not, as far as I know, in cultivation.  These plants are generally deemed uninteresting except by a tiny group of orchidists that like native orchids.  This plants are of a small stature and unremarkable when out of bloom.

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.