Month: November 2014

Bulbophyllum refractum (Zoll.) Rchb.f.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Pseudo-bulbs, crowded, conical, slightly flattened, 1 cm in height and 1. 2 to 1.8 cm in diameter at its base, with many woody roots; wrinkled during flowering. Leaves in pair, arising from the apex of the bulb, oblong, narrowed to the base, sessile, 4 to 7 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm in width, deciduous during flowering. Flowers in scape arising from the base of the bulb. Peduncle erect or diagonally erect, with two ovate clasping bracts at equal distance from the base of the scape, 4 to 9 cm long. Raceme pendulous, 6 to 14 cm long, many flowered.

The Flower

Flowers pendulous, arranged spirally. Sepals unequal, lanceolate, ciliolate, less than 1 cm long; lateral linear, both fused together except at its base to form an oblong shape and partially twisting along the middle, laxly ciliolate, 4 to 7 cm long and 0.8 to 1.2 cm in width, 10 to 12 veined. Petals very small, triangular, densely ciliolate. Lip longer than petals but shorter than the lateral sepals, fleshy, oblong, lower surface convex, hairy. Floral bracts from the upper side of the short sessile ovary, lanceolate. Flowers with a soothing scent.

Dorsal sepal, petals and lip are whitish brown base with broad markings of purple, the marginal hairs of sepals and petals as well as the lip hairs are dark purple. Lateral sepal which forms the most attractive part of this flower are bright yellow mixed with purple shade, its base with minute purple dots; but turns brownish yellow when old. Floral bract pale brown.

Bulbophyllum refractum, (Zoll.) Rchb.f.
Bulbophyllum refractum (Zoll.) Rchb.f.

The Pursuit

King and Pantling described this species as “a curious plant”. It is true anyone who has seen this flower once will never forget it. I was aware about the peculiar shape of this orchid flower and was studying it much before I started my work on orchids of the region. In the winter months I made a couple of trips to the Himalayas for finding this, but those short trips never brought any results other than enjoying the coolness of the Himalayas.

When I started living in the region from 2011 with the current project, my first intention was to see and document this flower. I enquired about this plant wherever I went and whomever I met in connection with my work. Finally in the early winter month I met a group of villagers who had seen this in flower in a forested area near their village. After several calls and a lot of coordination, a few of those villagers accompanied on the pursuit. We were 4 people on that particular day and searched by climbing up several trees. Unfortunately we were not able to spot the plants. That year was not fruitful in spotting the species.

In 2012, I was traveling to a distant village, which is in a deep valley surrounded by semi tropical dense forested hills on a friend’s bike. On this particular day I was on hunt for another plant. We were there by 9 in the morning and did its documentation very well, had a small survey of the surrounding area till noon. After having lunch from there we were riding back, this time I tried my luck with the handle bar. The ride was almost uphill all the way back and needed careful riding. Hence I was concentrating on the forest road to negotiate the vehicle properly. Almost half way on the uphill road, I spotted something strange on top of a tall tree to the right side of the road. Immediately I stopped the vehicle for a close look. To my surprise I found two plants of this species in full bloom. I will never forget that moment, as it is a bonus to find two plants in full bloom!!! Both of them were on a thin branch almost 60 ft high. The branch was extending to the road and was almost 16 to 20 ft long. There was no way to reach it. Even if we climb the tall tree, we would not be able to reach the flowers, as the branch in which it was growing was very thin and would not hold my weight. We both thought of many ideas but without any success. The village, which we visited, was more than 17 km away and bringing somebody from there for help was also not feasible on that day as it was already evening. We returned with great disappointment. I was not able to sleep even for a minute on that night, my mind was thinking about various ideas to reach those flowers.

Next day, we went again to the spot to try our luck, with two long ropes and the local knife, “the kukri”. After many rounds of ideas and suggestions, it was decided to break the branch of that tree and bring down the plants, study and document them and replant those plants to another branch. I never advocated cutting down any branches or pulling out any plants from its natural habitat. But in a situation like this I was left with no other options. Before taking a final decision we both surveyed the entire area to look for any other specimens but in vain. Then we decided to go for the most painful decision of my orchid hunt in the Himalayas till date. My friend climbed up the near by tree and tied a long rope to the apex end of the branch with flowers. Simultaneously I roped the other end to the trunk of the tree. Then, I started cutting the branch with great care and detached it from the trunk. Now, the thin branch was up there with the support of those ropes tied to its either sides. We untied those ropes and lowered the branch to ground level with utmost care. We came down the tree and I have no words to describe my first close view of this beautiful orchid flower. The next couple of hours were with notebook and camera for documenting it. Noted down all its characteristics, checked it several times to make sure everything was right and documented those flowers until a whole bag of flash batteries got drained out.

Then came the most important part of the current hunt, “to replant those plants”. I read many articles by eminent scientists from the Neo Tropical region and their way of trans-locating plants from fallen trees to new locations. Taking much clue from those notes and directions we trans-located those 11 buds to a new branch. Later on, in the coming weeks I made several visits to the locations to make sure the plants are growing in their new locations.

Last year, around the same time I found 6 flowering scape and the number of bulbs increased to 16. That sight had given me more joy than the find of this species exactly one year before. The Lord has answered my prayers for not being the reason for the extinction of this species at least from that location.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Cirrhopetalum refractum Zollinger., Page no 87.

Bulbophyllum odoratissimum (Sm.) Lindl. ex Wall.

The Plant

Epiphyte, but grows as lithophyte also. Pseudo-bulb sub-cylindric, smooth, 1.5 to 2 cm long and less than 1 cm in diameter, attached to a woody branched rhizome 4 to 7 cm apart. Leaf oblong, narrowing to the base, sessile, 4 to 7 cm long and 1.5 cm in width, slightly decurved at the apex. Flowers small, capitate, on a scape arising from the base of the pseudo-bulbs, with 2 to 3 lanceolate clasping sheaths, 4 to 6 cm long. Floral bracts longer than the pedicellate ovary.

The Flower

Flowers 1 to 1.5 cm across. Sepals sub-equal, lanceolate with broad base, apex varying – terete to pointed. Dorsal smaller than the lateral, diagonally arching; lateral spreading on the  base flowers, the rest arranged forward parallel to the lip. Petals smaller than the lip, ovate. Lip fleshy, curved, with a narrow lanceolate ridge running from the base to almost the mid of its disc, margins of the lip as well as the ridge with fine hairs. Sweet scented.

Sepals and petals white to pale creamy. Lip orange red, its margins as well as the ridge margins on its disc are white. Floral bracts pale cream and translucent, scape green.

Bulbophyllum odoratissimum, (Sm.) Lindl. ex Wall.
Bulbophyllum odoratissimum (Sm.) Lindl. ex Wall.

The Pursuit

A very interesting plant with sweet scented beautiful flowers. As it has a huge altitudinal range, it can be easily located from many places of the region.

I too located it without much difficulty, but it took three flowering seasons to produce a photograph of my desire. During its flowering season in the first two years, I was working in the Alpine zone and my visit to the lower altitudes were very seldom. Seven times I tried to reach to this species during its flowering time, but failed due to various reasons. Twice I was there when it was in full bloom, but the monsoon rains prevented me from producing perfect pictures.

In 2013, as I was finishing all undocumented and already discovered species, I took special efforts to document this. Its flowers are very small and its round flower head were not documented in detail by anyone. Its flower bracts are translucent; also there is a fine white margin on its lip and disc. Even though its flowers are widely documented because of its availability in nurseries, homes and roadsides all over the region, none produced the details needed for further studies and references. Hence, I put extra efforts to document those details in that season. The flowers I selected were hardly 3 to 5 ft high from the ground level. I sat comfortably on a chair, which is always loaded in our vehicle, arranged multiple flashes on many monopods and documented the flowers. To make sure all details were captured, I transferred the photographs to the laptop and checked it there itself. It was a fulfilling moment to see such details documented.

Reference:

King, G. & Pantling, R. (1898). The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas. Ann. Roy. Bot. Garden. (Calcutta). Bulbophyllum odoratissimum Lindl., Page no 79 – 80.

Bulbophyllum parviflorum C. S. P. Parish & Rchb.f.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Pseudo-bulb small, less than 1.5cm across, turbinate and depressed, attached to a thick, branching rhizome more than 4 to 6 cm apart; rhizome clothed and with numerous roots arising in intervals. Leaf narrowly oblong, acute, narrowed to a short petiole, 5 to 8 cm long and 1.5 cm in width. Flowers small, in scape arising from the older bulbs, decurved. Peduncle as long as the racemes, laxly arranged.

The Flower

Flowers 1 to 1.5 cm across, pedicellate. Sepals equal, broadly lanceolate and acuminate, dorsal diagonally erect, lateral spreading. Petals very small, lanceolate with ciliolate margins. Lip as long as the sepals, oblong, decurved, with ciliolate margins and a channel like cut at the base. Floral bract very small.

Sepals various shades of pale pink to rose, its outer surface with many irregular dots of dark pink at its base. Petals and lip creamy white to creamy pink. Floral bracts pale green.

Bulbophyllum parviflorum, C. S. P. Parish & Rchb.f.
Bulbophyllum parviflorum C. S. P. Parish & Rchb.f.

The Pursuit

The only Bulbophyllum species from the region, which has an unusually depressed bulb. This species covers the host trees, criss-crossing its trunk and branches with thousands and thousands of its plants, attached to the trunk as well as hanging out. As such it can be spotted from a mile away and recognized easily because of its pseudo-bulb’s shape. The same way, I too spotted it from agood distance on a routine survey in the monsoon months. With enough moisture and wetness due to regular rains, the plant was producing numerous new young leaves. Even though an individual specimen is very small in size, the entire growth covered the huge host tree leaving no room. Prior to that find, I had seen the species only from the drawings of Pantling. Hence, it was a joyous moment for me to see the unusually shaped pseudo-bulbs and to study it. The fact that the plant blooms in the early winter days made me take necessary notes and mark it for later observations.

In the early winter days I visited the location to examine the plant and observed many scape arising. After a week I made my second visit, but was disappointed to see them still in buds. On my third visit I found many of them in bloom. Then I observed the small hairy margins on its petals and lips (Even though King & Pantling had mentioned about this in detail, I had missed to register it). I had developed some lighting techniques to document minute hairy outgrowths in flowers and the technique had enabled me to produce fantastic results. Hence I thought of documenting this flower with those lighting techniques. However, on that particular day I was not carrying those lighting instruments. So one more visit was needed to finish this documentation. The next day I was forced to be in my camp house itself due to a local strike. On the third day, I went with all necessary equipment and produced this amazing photograph of the species with its minute hairs on its petals and lips.

Reference:

Bulbophyllum thomsoni Hook., Page no 83 – 84 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Bulbophyllum careyanum (Hook.) Spreng.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Pseudo-bulbs ovoid, ribbed, erect, 1.5 to 2 cm long and 1 to 1.3 cm in diameter, attached to a woody stout rhizome either close together or at a a distance of around 2 cm apart. Leaf fleshy, oblong, tapering on both ends, sub-sessile, apex notched, 6 to 14 cm long and 1.2 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in a scape arising from the side of the pseudo-bulb, 2 to 3 cm long and clothed with many lanceolate dried bracts, raceme decurved, densely flowered, 9 to 12 cm long.

The Flower

Flowers small, about 1.2 cm long, pedicellate. Sepals unequal, dorsal very small, oblong; lateral more than twice longer than the dorsal, ovate, acute, converging at its apex. Petals small, broadly triangular. Lip half the size of the lateral sepals, curved, disc channelled from its base to the middle, edges minutely ciliolate. Column with two apical teeth. Floral bracts longer than the ovary, lanceolate.

The outer surface of the sepals are of shinning brown with even darker marks throughout, inner side is pinkish brown with uneven darker markings. Petals pinkish brown. Lip reddish pink fading to its apex and margins. Column brilliant yellow. Pedicel bright red, scape greenish red, floral bracts pale brown.

Bulbophyllum careyanum, (Hook.) Spreng.
Bulbophyllum careyanum (Hook.) Spreng.

The Pursuit

A very interesting plant as well as flower of the region. In the monumental referral work of King and Pantling, the authors added a special paragraph to describe this species and its allied ones. However, they mentioned the altitudinal range of the species as “warm valleys” only. The altitudinal range and the blooming period are the two key factors that help in locating each species. The advantage I acquired about this species was the illustration of Pantling in the referral book, the drawing was excellent and the uniqueness of its pseudo-bulb attracted my attention. I took the unique shape as a reference and was searching for the species. In 2013, during the summer months I was stationed in a tropical warm forest with my work. During the survey work, I noticed few clumps of an orchid on the main trunk of some tall trees growing close by to each other. The plants were around 20 to 25 high and I was not able to study them from ground level. On observation with binoculars I noticed the unique shape of the pseudo-bulbs, but one important description of the plant by King and Pantling never matched, “pseudo-bulbs erect, ovoid, ribbed, about 3 in. apart……”. The bulbs of those plants I found were not 3 inches apart, most of them were arranged close together. As the blooming time of the plant was mentioned October, November and December in the referral book, I decided to mark the location and visit them in the next winter months. It is always advisable to re-visit unidentified plants once in ten or fifteen days to make sure they are not in bloom. However, I could not make those regular visits possible as I normally spend the months between May and October in the high alpine regions.

When I was back from the Alpine zone in the mid of October, I remembered about this species and the first trip was made to this location. To my surprise I found few fully developed racemes with almost matured buds ready to open. As the flowers were about 20 to 25 feet high and getting or making a ladder of that height was impossible, we thought of some other ideas. Near to the location, there was a new home being constructed and they had just removed the bamboo support from the concrete of its first floor. With the help of those workers we made a temporary stilt platform and sitting on that I produced this wonderful photograph. Also, I was also able to update the fact that the pseudo-bulbs bulbs of this species can grow close together as well as in a distance as described by the authors.

Reference:

Bulbophyllum careyanum Spreng., Page no 71 – 72  of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Arundina graminifolia (D.Don) Hochr.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Plant with varying height, from 2.25 to 9 ft. Stem erect, reed like woody structure, around 1.5 to 2.5 cm in width. Leaves many, alternatively arranged, membranous, acuminate, sessile, clasping, sheathed at the base, 4 to 12 cm long and 1.25 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in branched racemose, many flowered.

The Flower

Flowers large, 3 to 5 cm across. Sepals unequal, dorsal erect, oblong; lateral parallel to each other, underneath the lip, lanceolate, one nerved. Petals broader than the sepals, rhomboid with pointed apex, spreading, one nerved. Lip variable, portion between its base and mouth convolute round the column, mouth large and spreading, deeply bifid, with numerous parallel veins. The disc with three lamellae.

Flower colour varies from plant to plant. Sepals, petals and the convolate portion of the lip are with shades of pink. The spreading mouth is of a darker shade, with many veins.

Arundina graminifolia, (D.Don) Hochr.
Arundina graminifolia (D.Don) Hochr.

The Pursuit

My first journey uphill the Kalimpong-Sikkim road from Siliguri was in a hired vehicle – over loaded with too much luggage inside and poring heavily outside. Through the foggy windowpane, I spotted this plant in bloom with many of them in flower. To be frank, in those days I was not aware of the abundance of this species and its relatively longer blooming season. Hence, I wanted to document those flowers then and there. It was raining heavily and removing the camera and accessories from the fully loaded luggage inside the vehicle was not so easy. Out of curiosity I made our vehicle stop there and observed the flowers thoroughly. There were many flowers of brilliant pink colour. The driver was kind enough to pull down the luggage and help me in getting all those instruments needed for the shoot. However, the need of the hour, the umbrella was not traceable. It was in one of the suitcases but we were not able to locate it.

As it was the first species I had located I was utterly disappointed to leave the documentation undone. As we were about to leave, I spotted two people walking towards the other side with umbrellas. As they approached our car, I made a very polite request to borrow their umbrella in Hindi, which was promptly translated to Nepali by my driver. They obliged happily. My driver made both of them sit in our vehicle and we took their umbrellas and produced a few photographs – of course not so technically perfect ones!!!

Later on, in my entire four years in the hills, I had spotted this species several hundred times from many locations. Each of them shows its own colour pattern; hence I document this species almost every time I got an opportunity.

Reference:

Arundina bambusifolia Lindl., Page no 113 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f.

The Plant

Epiphyte. Stem 4 to 7 feet long, stout, pendulous, roots thick and long. Leaves arranged alternatively, oblong, sessile, with sheathed and clasping base, bifid at the apex, 5 to 8 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width. Flowers in leaf opposed stout 12 to 16 cm long racemes.

The Flower

Flowers very attractive, large, around 3 to 4 cm across, 4 to 5 in numbers, attached in  distance and arising from a node like structure in the raceme enclosed in a clasping bract. Sepals unequal; dorsal oblong and blunt, erect; lateral oblong, falcate, spreading. Petals slightly shorter and narrower than the lateral sepals, oblong, minutely arching down, spreading. Margins of sepals and petals towards their apex are curved up ending in a deflexed beak tip.

Sepals and petals are yellowish brown up to two-third of its length from the base, with broad chestnut brown half broken horizontal bands, the upper one-third  totally chestnut brown. Lip yellowish brown to orange base throughout, the side lobes of the hypochile with chestnut brown vertical bands, its disc white with two brilliant brown elongated patches; epichile with white diverging bands. The apex of the anther with pinkish brown margins.

Esmeralda clarkei, Rchb.f.
Esmeralda clarkei Rchb.f.

The Pursuit

Undoubtedly, this one of the most beautiful orchid flower of the region. As the saying goes, “beauty is sometimes a curse” is most appropriate for this species as it was collected in plenty for trade due to its beauty, thus making it almost on the verge of extinction from the wild. I had seen this species in bloom in many houses and nurseries of the region, but there was something missing in those flowers. Although King and pantling used to the term “magnificent” to describe the flowers of this genus, I felt they are gloomy.

I was determined to find this species from its natural habitat. More importantly, I am the only person who had documented and studied the other two species of this genus from the region; hence it was more important for me to find this species also. (Note: In the days of King and Pantling, there were three species under Arachnanthe genus from the region).

I know a couple of places of its nearest ally of this species, Esmeralda cathcartii (Lindl) Rchb. My initial thoughts of finding this species in those locations were not right. King and Pantling’s mention about this species growing at higher altitudes than its ally and blooms in a different season made me shift my search to some other locations. I searched vast areas inside a semi tropical forest for weeks. During that search I found many other species but this one remained elusive. The search month coincided with many religious festivals of the region and getting somebody to accompany me was really impossible. All my accomplices were either on official or “unofficial” leave. As the region was inside a protected area and with enough wildlife, venturing inside all alone was not allowed. Even though the region of Sikkim-Himalayas is very small in area, there are many places where no humans have ever ventured. It is interesting to note that many of theses places are inside protected areas, which are to be monitored regularly by its staff in the form of patrols. Taking into consideration the blooming time of the species and my curiosity to find it, the in-charge official of the area somehow arranged a casual official to accompany me for a few days. He was such a lazy man; we never got along very nicely. However, as the saying goes, “something is better than nothing”, I took advantage of his presence and went deep inside the unexplored areas. The search went on for several days without any success. But I never gave up, one day as we were returning to the base camp in a patrol trek, I found two long pendulous stems of this species swinging in the light evening breeze right above our head from a huge tree. The stems were more than 6 feet long and curved down. It was a joyous moment of my entire days there. I never thought I would find the species with such ease. As the days were very short during those months we decided to return to the camp and come back next day to study the plant. Next day we were there before afternoon, and found there were 6 buds coming up and it would take quite some time to be in flower. I visited the plant several times in the next one month to see them in bloom and produced this wonderful photograph.

The area is a habitat of many bears and leopards. There was a recent report of a leopard attack on a patrolling party. However, with the grace of the Almighty in the almost 48 days I worked there, I never encountered any big wild animals.

Reference:

Arachnanthe clarkei Rolfe., Page no 209 – 210 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl. – the alba form.

The Plant

Almost the space as that of the species one, but with relatively larger pseudo-bilbs and longer leaves and peduncle. Flowers 4 to 5, laxly arranged in distance.

The Flower

Sepals, petals and lip pure white. Anther bright yellow, ovary pale green, floral bract brown.

Anthogonium gracile, Wall. ex Lindl - the white form
Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl – the white form.

The Pursuit

In the monumental publication, King and Pantling noted, “A white-flowered variety is not uncommon”. However, this white form was not much reported or documented from the region. That made this white form one of the most sought orchid from the region for me.

As the rose coloured species are available in plenty, almost everywhere, it is a familiar species to the local population. However, due to its peculiar shape most of the people cannot relate it as an orchid! Wherever I went for other species during those months, I was asking everyone about the white coloured one, without any success.

In the year 2012, I was working in the alpine areas of Sikkim-Himalayas between May and October. As the road connectivity always got blocked due to monsoon-triggered landslides I seldom came to the plains during those days. In those alpine areas there are not much of private transport available and I totally depended on Army vehicles to shuttle between places. In the month of September, I was forced to make a trip to the State capital in connection with finalizing some publications. I took an early morning army vehicle, which was going to their base camp in the town downhill. Those huge trucks are built for those terrains and are the safest mode of transport on those hilly terrains. As we crossed the half way, the walkie talkie in the cabin relayed message of a landslide a few kilometers ahead and asked the vehicle to return to its starting point. As there were some officials who have to board a train to their home that very same evening, they requested the pilot of the vehicle to drop them up to the landslide point. After getting permission from the higher authorities he took us to the landslide area. The slide was about 80 ft long and the road was covered with almost 4 to 5 ft high mud and many rocks. As I have to attend the meeting next day, I decided to take the risk and cross the landslide on foot and get another lift from the other side. The road was totally covered with mud and in some places my legs sunk in the slug up to my knees. I was muddy all over from my shoes to my cap. Somehow, with the help of many others I walked the entire landslide and reached the other side. Went to the stream ahead washed the clothes and shoes without much success. Waited with hope for a vehicle to go downhill. As the message of the slide was relayed over walkie talkie, the check post downhill prevented any vehicle movement and those people who crossed the slide were stranded there. As I was with very little luggage I decided to walk down hill to the nearest town, which was about 16 km away.

As I was walking down hill, I started spotting many of those rose coloured flowers of this species on both the sides of the road. I was concentrating on both sides for any colour variations with a hope that I will find the white one. As I was taking a sharp turn, made by cut opening a projection of the rocky hill, I spotted few white flowers on the left side of the road at a height of about 20 to 25 ft. The sides were full of undergrowth and spotting them was very difficult. I tried to climb that side, but it was almost vertical and climbing up was impossible. My efforts to find a long bamboo to clear the undergrowths from the road and identify those white flowers also met with no success. As I was wondering what to do next to reach the flowers, I heard the sound of army trucks coming up the hill. They were going with porters and helpers to clear the land slide and open the road for traffic. Luckily, I knew the personnel on the first army vehicle and they stopped by to inquire about the landslide. Then I requested the pilot of that vehicle to move his truck to the right side of the road, so that I can climb on the top of its cabin and reach out to those flowers. He obliged with a firm reply that he could spare just a couple of minutes. I climbed up the cabin and cleared some undergrowths and was happy to identify the white form of this species. As the trucks have to go to clear the slide and open the road for traffic, I climbed down immediately to let them go. Then I decided to stay back in the downhill town for the day and come to those flowers next day with proper arrangements for the documentation.

Next day, I hired a vehicle and arranged a long ladder and proceeded to the location and with the help of the driver, climbed up the ladder and cleared some undergrowths and documented the plants. They were altogether 6 plants with 16 flowers and 7 buds. Most of the flowers were fresh and I selected this particular one and produced this wonderful photograph.

Reference:

Anthogonium gracile Lindl., Page no 96 – 97 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial, but often found growing as lithophyte also. Pseudo bulb small, ovoid, partially buried in the ground (if terrestrial). Stem narrow, 6 to 18 cm long, sheathed at the base. Leaves 2 to 6, many nerved, long, with parallel edges and pointed apex, sessile, base sheathing, 6 to 15 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm in width. Flowers in peduncle arising from the lower side of the pseudo bulb, longer than the leaves, 1 or rarely more, raceme very rarely branched. Ovary ribbed and long stalked, with a narrow lanceolate, clasping floral bract arising from its lower side.

The Flower

Flowers many, 5 to 24, laxly arranged. Non-resupinate. Flowers 1.5 to 2 cm across with long-stalked ovary. Sepals unequal, dorsal oblong; lateral ovate, twice wider than the dorsal; connate at their bases to form a narrow cylindric tube. Petals oblong, smaller than the lateral sepals, the base attached inside the tube. Sepals and petals single veined. The base of the lip attached to the column, tubular, apex wide open.

Sepals and petals rose to pink coloured. The mouth of the lip white, disc and side lobes with many pinkish dark spots, anther a brilliant yellow, ovary pinkish brown, floral bract brown.

Anthogonium gracile, Wall. ex Lindl.
Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl.

The Pursuit

As the monsoon settles down in the month of August, the open land, slopes, rocks of the sub-tropical forests are full of this species. They cover the entire area and within few weeks start blooming. Its blooming phenomenon continues for two more months thus enabling a wide range of audience to enjoy its beauty. I had spotted these plants in plenty by the end of monsoon from many locations and waited for them to bloom.

Even though widely documented, the colour variations and markings inside its lip were not properly documented earlier. Hence, I decided to document this species in detail for further references. As the flower is non-resupinate, with its lip pointing upwards, the dark markings on its disc is apparently invisible with all published photographs. Hence, I decided to take a low angle shot to make those markings visible. For the same I was looking for a few plants growing at a height of about 6 to 7 ft from the ground with its stem erect and stretching outward. Even though the species was in plenty in that location, one with all features of my imagination was difficult to find. After a couple of hours of search I found a few plants growing on a rock next to a small stream. The plants were on the outer side of the rock and projecting outwards. Their height was also very much suitable for my low angle shots. Stepping into the knee-deep water of that small stream I produced this low angle shot of the species with full details of its disc markings and colour variations.

Reference:

Anthogonium gracile Lindl., Page no 96 – 97 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Rhynchostylis retusa Blume.

The Plant

Epiphyte. A robust plant with stout erect stems, spreading decurved leaves and thick long roots. Stem clothed in the sheaths of dried leaves of previous season, 15 to 35 cm in height and 2 to 3 cm in width. Leaves 4 to 12, with equitant bases, keeled, bilobed, 20 to 35 cm in length and around 2 cm in width. Flowers in curved pendulous racemes arising from the base of the leaves, densely flowered.

The Flower

Peduncle short with a few small sheaths, raceme 12 to 30 cm long, ribbed. Flowers 1.5 to 2 cm across, attached in 1 to 1.5 cm long pedicels, sepals unequal, dorsal oblong, erect; lateral broadly ovate, much larger than the dorsal, blunt, lower margin slightly undulate, spreading. Petals narrower than the dorsal sepals, oblanceolate, blunt and spreading. Lip right angled, with its base narrow and channelled, margins bend upwards; the apex broadly retuse, side margins curved up and the disc with two short and narrow lamella like projections. Spur short, almost rectangular in shape and compressed. Floral bracts very small, lanceolate, attached on the upper side of the slightly curved and ribbed pedicels.

Sepals and petals white to pale pink with many irregular horizontal dark pink markings, more to their apexes. Lip of two shades, its base white to pale pink, disc dark pink, spur and pedicel pale pink, the latter with a darker shade to its apex. Floral bract brown.

Rhynchostylis retusa, Blume.
Rhynchostylis retusa Blume.

The Pursuit

This species is nicknamed as “Foxtail Orchid” and is the State flower of the neighboring state of Arunachal Pradesh. It is a very important region in the Eastern Himalayan biodiversity hotspot blessed with more orchids than that of Sikkim-Himalayas.

This plant attracts the attention of one and all even without in flowers because of its appearance and leaf pattern. There are many varieties of this species, with much colour variations through out the tropical region of the Eastern Himalayas. King and Pantling in their monumental publication had illustrated and described a specimen of this species from the region of Sikkim-Himalayas, this helped me to narrow down and search this species from the tropical valleys of Sikkim-Himalayas only. As the plant is very robust in nature and can be found in many locations, the only matter left was to be there at the right time of its flowering. By the mid of April, I observed racemes arising in many plants. Made several visits to those spots and finally by the mid of May they all started blooming. When the flowers are in plenty, it is very difficult to choose a perfect one. In circumstances like that I always prefer those flowers, which are easy to be reached. Hence, I selected a plant from a relatively smaller tree and produced this wonderful photograph.

As this species produces a number of colour varieties I documented several specimens later on from various regions to study its colour patterns. They all have one thing in common, elegance!!!

Reference:

Rhynchostylis retusa Blume., Page no 213 – 214 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Acrochaene punctata Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs crowded, ovoid, arranged very close to each other, attached to a stout rhizome with many thick long roots; bulbs brownish and coriaceous during flowering. Leafs oblong, obtuse, 7 to 12 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width, emarginate, narrowed to both ends, the base into a long petiole of about 4 to 7 cm long. Flowers in slightly decurved peduncles, arising from the base of withered bulbs, pendulous, arranged laxly. Peduncle with two erect, large, spathulate bracts at its base.

The Flower

Flowers 12 to 20;  2 to 2.25 m across, peduncle with two large spathulate, erect bracts at its base. Sepals unequal, dorsal elliptic, acute, erect; lateral pair broadly triangular, sub-acute, the lower margin undulate and slightly bent upward, seven veined. Petals smaller than the dorsal sepal, narrowly triangular, fimbriate, spreading, three to five veined. Lip as long as the petals, attached with a large curved claw at its base, side lobes erect, apical lobe tongue-shaped, with a deep partition from the base to almost middle. Floral bracts half to one-third size of the curved pedicel, attached to its upper side, lanceolate with broad base.

Flower, peduncle and its basal bracts are of a greenish base with purplish brown streaks and dots through out. Sepals pale green with numerous purplish brown dots to its apex. Petals of the same shade as that of the sepals but with broader purplish dots on the margins, fimbria bright green with purple markings. Lip with a darker shade than that of sepals and petals at the apex and turning paler to the base, its apical lobe with several large irregular brownish spots. The outer surface of the flower with pale green shade with numerous unequal brown dots and streaks. Floral bracts pale brown with darker irregular markings.

Acrochaene punctata, Lindl.
Acrochaene punctata Lindl.

The Pursuit

This species is very rarely found from the region. I had studied this species in detail from the referral book of King and Pantling. Its pseudo bulbs are arranged very closely and has a stout rhizome with thick roots, with bulbs coriaceous in texture – were the features I had chosen to locate this plant. As most of the trees will be devoid of any monsoon climbers in the winter months, it was very easy to search for small plants like this species. One afternoon, my assistant and me were in a thick-forested area of a wildlife sanctuary at an altitude of around 4800 ft. We were there looking for few plants blooming in the winter months including this species.

My assistant, who belongs to an indigenous community of the region, has the knack of imitating the sound of birds. He always imitates the sound of some or other birds to bring them out from hiding. Instead of looking for orchids he then observes those birds through my binoculars and describes their colours, shapes etc to me. As it interrupts my purpose of visit, I always discouraged him from this sort of distractions. The same afternoon, he was making the sound of a particular bird, he had observed several times there. His sound made a male bird of that species come out from its hiding and it started reciprocating the calls made by him. His curiosity made him observe the bird through my binoculars. His descriptions of bright red feathers, yellow beak provoked me to observe the bird through the binocular. I was panning the binocular to locate the bird and my view got stuck on a bunch of orchid plants around 40 to 50 ft high on a tree next to the bird. The view from that position was good to observe the bird but not the orchids. So I moved ahead to the other side of the tree for a good look, which disturbed the bird, and it flew away making my assistant bit unhappy. He also came to help me to the other side of the tree and to our surprise it was this species, that also with several peduncle in buds. My assistant was a very good climber and whenever he is with me I always felt comfortable. We both were up the tree and studied the plant and decided to make another visit after 6 days.

On the sixth day, we were again there. My assistant making those bird cries again, but the bird never turned up on that day. At the top of the tree, we found only a few of them in bloom and decided to come back after 2 days. On the third visit my assistant was unable to be with me and I went all-alone to the location. Trekking those deep forests and climbing those heights without any assistance, also with cameras and accessories was very difficult, but the curiosity of having a new specimen documented makes the trek as well as the climb go on. On that day except one peduncle rest everything was in bloom and I produced this beautiful photograph of the species.

Moral: Respect the qualities and skills of everybody around.

Reference:

Acrochaene punctata Lindl., Page no 153 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).