October 2014 – Naresh Swami | The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya

Peristylus aristatus Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 12 to 18 cm high with sender stem. Leaves sub-equal, 3 to 4 in number with the middle ones the largest, elliptic, narrowed to the base, stalkless, 3 to 5 cm long and less than 1.5 cm in width. Spike narrow than the stem, about 7 to 10 cm long. Tubers oblong to cylindric.

The Flower

Flowers in a narrow spike, small, laxly arranged. Sepals sub-equal, linear; lateral pair pointing upwards, dorsal arching. Petals as long as the lateral sepals, connivent with the dorsal sepal. Lip longer than the sepals and petals, three lobed. The middle segment linear, slightly shorter but broader than the lateral ones; lateral pair filiform and spreading with upward curving edges. Spur longer than the lip but shorter than the erect ovary, variable in shape – clavate or fusiform, curved. Floral bract lanceolate and slightly shorter than the ovary, clasping.

The whole flower is green in colour.

The Pursuit

A small plant of the region. Even though King and Pantling mentioned this plant in their monumental work, somehow I missed it. I can’t even remember an instance of reading its descriptions from the reference book.

I was camping in a sub-tropical forest at an altitude between 4800 to 6000 ft in the monsoon season of 2012. I had a long list of plants that required searching almost everyday. My team and me worked every day 8 to 10 hours in the region, walking around 25 to 30 km. On one Sunday, I was making a casual survey around 11:30 Hrs and was walking downhill on a narrow trek road to the village. The trek road was on the side of a cliff with tall bamboo forest on the cliff side and a small stream about 40 ft down on the other side. The trek road was hardly of 3 ft in width, hence going up and down that way needs at-most caution. As I was walking downhill, a group of children of an uphill village were returning to their homes after attending prayers at the village church. They were all in colourful and bright dresses. Their colourful dress along with the dark monsoon clouds in the horizon prompted the artist within me to take a few photographs of them. The children were so excited that they were posing in different animated ways. I was aware of the stream on the side of the trek road and to avoid anybody accidentally falling down, asked them to climb up the bamboo forest to have some photo shoots. As I wanted the dark monsoon clouds in the background, I asked few of them to climb a rock inside the bamboo forest, so that I can have a low angle shot with clouds in the background. I was looking for a good position to kneel down for the low angle without destroying any plants on the ground. Then I stumbled upon four specimens of this species in full bloom next to the rock. I was surprised to see those plants, at the same lucky that none of the children who walked in front of me stepped on them. Since I was unable to remember the illustrations of the species from the referral book, I was not able to identify it instantaneously. As the children had to reach their homes before the rains, I first took their photos and then concentrated on the new find.

As the flowers were in full bloom, I was unaware of its identity. I made detailed drawings and took several photographs from all possible angles in order to establish its identification. I was documenting the four plants for long time and was unaware of the looming rain clouds. Finally, as the rain started pouring down I packed up my camera bag and started walking back to my camp.

While back at the camp, I found out from King and Pantling’s work the identity of the plant. I thanked the Almighty, those children and the rain clouds for that wonderful find of that day. The next Sunday, I cancelled all my programs and waited for those children with my pocket full of toffees. The only thing which was not there was the “heavenly blessings” – the rain and the rain clouds.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden.(Calcutta). Habenaria aristata Hook., Page no 312.

Pinalia spicata (D.Don.) S.C. Chen & J.J.Wood.

The Plant

Epiphyte, but seen very often as lithophytes too. Whole plant less than 15 to 18 cm in height. Pseudo-bulbs four or five arising together, flattened, with parallel veins and coriaceous surface, 4 to 6 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm in width. Young pseudo-bulbs covered with sheathing bracts. Leaves 4 to 6, oblanceolate, many nerved, 5 to 8 cm long 1 to 2.5 cm in width.

The Flower

Flowers many, very small, in spikes arising from the axils of the bracts and leaves of young pseudo-bulbs. Spikes without any bracts, 6 to 8 cm long, cylindric – but narrowing towards its apex. Sepals ovate, three to five nerved, lateral pair spreading and curved backward. Petals as long as the lateral sepals, but narrow, three nerved. Lip almost with triangular apex and tapering base, 3 lobed, disc with three very minute curved ridges.

Sepals and petals creamy white with pale pink margins. The base of the lip is of shades of brownish red with three distinct nerves of a darker shade, side lobes are shaded with pink, disc pinkish brown shading towards yellow at the apex. Column with shades of reddish brown.

Pinalia spicata (D.Don.) S.C. Chen & J.J.Wood

The Pursuit

King and Pantling in their monumental publication wrote about this species, as, “Specimens grown at lower elevations have often more slender pseudo-bulbs and narrower leaves than those from cooler places, the spikes also are longer and not so densely flowered”. They also mentioned its altitudinal range as 2000 to 6000 ft.

This statement made my task difficult, as I want to find and study the plant from the cooler regions. I was concentrating above 5500 ft for this species. This plant with its tufted and flattened stems can be spotted as far as a mile in the plains. My search in higher altitudes never met any success for two consecutive years, even though I found many specimens from lower elevations.

Last year, I was staying inside a National Park between the months of February and May. From our base camp in the park, the nearest village was about 12 km away and we had to take a very difficult trek to get there. We used that arduous route several times, mainly to collect our food requirements. The responsibility of that work was handled by one of my assistants, who is very well connected in the village. As he was working with me for the last three years, he also became a very good orchid searcher. I had shown him the drawing of this particular species and also a few live specimens from lower elevations and requested him to look for the same during his trek. During one of his trips to collect vegetables from the village he found this species from an altitude of 5800 ft. He came back to me very excited and also with a few photographs taken on his mobile phone. I was also elated and visited the place after a couple of days. The plant was on a 30 ft high rock at a height of approximately 12 ft from the ground. As it was not the season of its blooming, we marked it for later visits.

Later on, during the monsoon months I visited the location several times to find it in bloom and produced this beautiful photograph.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden.(Calcutta). Eria convallarioides Lindl., Page no 118.

Trichotosia pulvinata (Lindl.) Kraenzl.

The Plant

Epiphyte. With 10 to 18 cm long, decurved, pendulous stems, covered with reddish brown hairs throughout. Leaves many, alternatively arranged, leathery, lanceolate, acuminate, 4 to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm in width, margins and dorsal part covered with hairs as that of the stem.

The Flower

Flowers leaf opposed, in short stout racemes, 4 to 6 each, with large triangular hairy green bracts. Sepals sub-equal, ovate to lanceolate, hairy on the outer surface, spreading. Petals narrower than the petals, spreading, not hairy. Lip as long as the petals and sepals, lanceolate with its apex curved up to form a boat like structure, margins not lobed, disc with an elongate callus near its apex.

Sepals, petals and lip pure white. Half the length of the lip margins from the base is flushed with crimson red, its disc has a bright elongated yellow marking near to its apex. The anther cap is spotted with a bright and attractive crimson red shade. Sepals are externally covered with reddish brown hairs.

Trichotosia pulvinata, (Lindl.) Kraenzl. — Trichotosia pulvinata (Lindl.) Kraenzl.

The Pursuit

A plant of the region which was illegally collected from the wild for trade, thus destroying its entire population. I had a feeling that some of the plant collectors of the region may be knowing its earlier habitats. Even though these plant collectors are very secretive in disclosing the locations, some will do so for some financial returns. Thus I got a vague idea of a location where this species was in plenty some 20 years back.

As this species got long pendulous stems, I was sure I will be able to locate it, if it was somewhere in the wild. I visited the said location in the early monsoon for survey. The location was around 2200 ft high and surrounded with tall trees and heavy undergrowths. The whole day I searched the area and I trekked up to almost 4000 ft. It is a practice I follow to take another route while returning, so that I can survey more places. If the route is uphill, while going up I take the long route and while returning I prefer to take short cuts. As I was negotiating a short cut route downhill, to my surprise I found a huge plant with almost 18 stems, some even more than 15 cm long on a small tree. It was a surprise that such a huge plant survived there without the notice of any collectors. On close observation I understood that flower buds just started emerging and it will take another 20 to 30 days for it to bloom. That made me so worried, as I feared that it may be picked up from there by somebody before I document it.

I had a good friend in that area, a very influential person of the locality. I phoned him and met him at his home that evening and shared with him about the situation. We visited the location the next day. He was also aware of the presence of collectors and their illegal activities in that area. He suggested that we should cover the whole plant with some branches so that it should not be noticed easily. I was afraid that it will damage the plant, but was left with no other options. He and his friends brought a few broken tree branches and placed it in a slanting position on the tree trunk in such a way it covered the plant. They did it very carefully without damaging any of the slender pendulous stems of the plant. My friend’s contacts there volunteered themselves to take care of the plant till it blooms. I too visited the location thrice in those twenty five days to analyze the plant and its growth. My friend informed me over phone about the first bloom and I made this wonderful photograph of the species. After that I visited 4 more times to document other flowers from the same plant.

Later on, after all the flowers withered, we translocated the plant to another location which was deep inside the forest to protect it. This year too I visited its new location to see them in flowers.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden.(Calcutta). Eria rufinula Reichb., Page no 128 – 129.

Pinalia pumila (Lindl.) Kuntze.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Whole plant less than 15 cm in height. Erect or pendulous. Rhizome thick, covered with many fibrous sheaths. Pseudo-stems many, arising together from the rhizomes. Stems sub-cylindric or in many cases compressed, 7 to 9 cm long and around 1 to 2 cm thick. Leaves 4 to 6 in numbers arising from the apex of the stem, 5 to 7 cm long and 1 to 2 cm in width, lanceolate, tapering to both sides, with 2 to 3 cm long translucent and veined sheaths.

The Flower

Flowers in dense capitulum, arising in short peduncles from the axils of the leaves. Capitulum 2 to 2.5 cm across with 12 to 26 minute flowers. Sepals oblong to obtuse, erect. Petals much narrower, spreading. Lip oblong, three lobed, disc ridged. Lateral lobes, short, erect. The mid lobe deeply cut into two lobules.

Sepals and petals translucent, pale pink. Lip of a creamy white shade. Column brownish red.

Pinalia pumila, (Lindl.) Kuntze — Pinalia pumila (Lindl.) Kuntze.

The Pursuit

This is a plant never been studied from its natural habitats of Sikkim-Himalayas. With very little information available – including a question mark (?) on its blooming time by the authors, this was one of the most interesting pursuit made by me in the region. The only reference made was that the species is found in the tropical valleys and the blooming season as “August?”.

Between the months of May and October I always concentrated on orchids from the higher altitudes. But, I had always found time to come down to tropical valleys in search of many species and succeeded in finding many in bloom. King and Pantling in many cases mentioned some indications like Teesta valley, Frontier regions etc., so that the search can be done in those areas. In this case, it was only mentioned “Tropical valleys”. I tried several locations between the months of April and September in 2011, but was unable to locate this species. In 2012, I was taking a long trek along with my assistant and my assistant in a heavy forested region in the tropical zone to document another plant we had spotted few months back. The location was around 6 to 7 hours trek from the nearest village and it was impossible to return on the same day. Hence, we were carrying tents, food etc for the day. Midway, we were cooking our lunch on the banks of the stream we were following. My assistant boy was a local of the region and had the art of making utensils like spoons, glasses etc. from bamboos and plates from leaves for serving food. He was able to find few bamboos from near the stream, but was not able to collect wide leaves to make plates. As he was looking after the cooking, I went inside the thick forest to bring few wide leaves. While inside the forest, I found two orchids in bloom which I had already documented a year ago. Those finds made me do some survey in that location, with my mind saying “I will find something more”. Usually it has been advised by the Forest officials not to venture deep inside the forest all alone. As I was already inside the thick forest, I decided to do a quick survey and was constantly in touch with my helper by blowing whistles (a way of communication inside thick forests).

The forest was very thick, so movement as well as locating plants from tree tops were not easy. Within five minutes I came across two fallen trees. Fallen trees are always a home to many wild orchids. To my surprise I found a two stemmed single plant of this species with almost dried flowers. I was so excited I ran back to the stream to bring my camera and my assistant to help me. We searched the whole area for more plants with fresh flowers, but never able to locate anymore. As the plants were on a fallen tree, I started documenting the flowers without any help from my assistant. However, he used that time to climb few trees near by for a closer survey and was lucky to find another cluster of this species with fresh flowers. I too climbed up that tree and produced this beautiful photograph, probably the first of its kind from the region. Thus updating the information of its blooming time with more accuracy.

We both were returning so happy just to see a herd of 21 elephants on the stream enjoying their bath after smashing off our lunch and my beautiful tent and back pack!!!.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden.(Calcutta). Eria pumila, Lindl., Page no 118 – 119.