Naresh Swami – Page 12 – Naresh Swami | The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya

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).

Peristylus goodyeroides (D.Don) Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. A robust plant from the region, attains height between 1.5 and 2.25 ft. Stem stout, clothed in the lower portion with two blunt, clasping sheaths. Leaves 4 to 6 arranged close together at the apex of the stem, ovate with pointed apex, stalkless and with clasping bases, short sheathed, 4 to 6 cm long and 1.5 to 2 cm in width, veined with dull yellow broad margins on its upper surface. Flowers small, in spike, many, closely arranged, peduncle narrow than the stem and also with two lanceolate acuminate bracts. Tubers oblong, hairy.

The Flower

Flowers small, around 1 cm across. Sepals sub-equal, dorsal broad, concave, lanceolate and arching; lateral pair twice longer as that of the dorsal, wider at the base, spreading, oblong, obtuse, with undulate margins and folded inwardly. Petals broadly concave, blunt, larger than the dorsal sepal, connivent with the dorsal sepal to form a hood. Lip slightly shorter or of the same length of the lateral sepals, three lobed, middle lobe with blunt apex, side lobes narrow with pointed apex. Floral bracts narrow, lanceolate, erect and arising from the lower side of the ovary. Flowers sweet scented.

Sepals pale brownish pink with minute white margins. Petals greenish white with darker apex. Lip of the same shade as that of the petals, with darker shades on the apex of the three lobes. The disc of the lip got an elongated greenish brown marking on its base.

Peristylus goodyeroides, (D.Don) Lindl. — Peristylus goodyeroides (D.Don) Lindl.

The Pursuit

A plant with sweet scented flowers. I spotted this plant with its scent only. I was camping in a protected area of the forest in the early monsoon months. As that was my first visit to that particular region, every day I crisscrossed the forest in search of new species. Early monsoon showers help a lot of plants to spurt up, as a researcher the spurting up of various plants is a great botanical phenomenon to observe. Every day before my scheduled flower hunt with my assistant, I take short trips to the forested area to watch and observe those new growths and study different plants. On one of those sunny mornings, as usual I was out with my illustrated dictionary to look for some unusual plant structures and sensed some sweet fragrance from the area. The fragrance was so soothing and nice; I was tempted to find out its source. I assumed it might be from some night flowering plants. I started looking around for it and found four plants right in front of me in full bloom. It was an unforgettable experience. In general, plants got bright coloured flowers and sweet scent to attract pollinators, today the same science made the flower attract a researcher. I was overjoyed and went back to the camp to bring my documentation instruments and produced this beautiful photograph.

Reference:

Habenaria goodyeroides Don., Page no 326 – 327 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

Habenaria furcifera Lindl.

The Plant

Terrestrial. Whole plant 1.5 to 2 ft in height. Stem narrow. Leaves 4 to 7 arranged on the lower portion of the stem, with the middle ones larger, elliptic, acute, with sheathing bases and undulate margins, veined, 6 to 14 cm long and 1.5 to 3 cm in width. Peduncle with 10 to 14 erect, lanceolate and clasping leafy bracts diminishing in size to the apex. Flowers many, laxly arranged in a spike of 8 to 12 cm long. Tubers ovoid.

The Flower

Flowers large and slightly drooping. Dorsal sepal concave, ovate to oblong, arched; lateral sepals lanceolate, acute, spreading. Petals are of the same size of the dorsal petal, oblong, connivent with the later to form a hood. Lip long and tri-segmented; lateral pair filiform, longer than the middle, diverging and with narrowing tips. Middle segment broad and blunt. Spur laterally compressed, longer than the arched ovary, stout at the base and curved up at its apex. Bracts arising from the under side of the ovary and longer than it, erect and lanceolate.

Flower green throughout, with sepals of darker shade than the petals. Lip and spur are of pale green.

Habenaria furcifera, Lindl. — Habenaria furcifera Lindl.

The Pursuit

This species has a special place in my heart. This is one of the few species I studied in my early days of research from Sikkim-Himalayas. Moreover, it is a very elusive species to find, relatively rare to find from the region.

For my work, I moved from the scorching heat of mainland Delhi to the monsoon hit Himalayas. Getting accustomed to the region, its climate and the fieldwork were of great difficulty. I had to get used to heavy rains, landslides, roadblocks, leeches, homesickness etc. I overcame these difficulties and went for pursuits everyday. On that particular day, I was concentrating on a hill near to my base camp apparently to avoid long journeys through the landslide prone roads. We went up the hill in our vehicle and were trekking down through the forested area in the valley. The heavy rains on the previous days made the whole trek route slippery and made it very difficult to walk down hill. My assistant and I had many slips and falls on that slope. We decided to leave the trek route and walk through the forested area, which was fully covered with fresh undergrowth. As we walked over the forest our choice would avert further slips and falls, but would damage or destroy many plants. Those were my initial days in the field and I was not so conscious about those matters. As we were negotiating through 2 to 3 ft high undergrowth, I found a very small plant of this species with few buds. The plant was just 14.3 cm high, with 11 buds and 3 small leaves. As I got the whole of King and Pantling’s monumental book in my Ipad, it enabled me to identify the species immediately. As it was in bud, my assistant and I decided to have a detailed survey on that slope for more specimens of this plant. The whole we searched the valley without anymore finds. It started raining by 2:30 PM and we returned to our camp. Luckily, next day was a day with no rains. We went to the other side of the hills. That side was steeper with river Teesta flowing around 1400 ft below us and the hunt was very risky. In that type of terrain for safety reasons I would secure myself with a rope tied on to my waist with its other end tied around a strong tree. The rope I use was of 18 ft length and its length will further get reduced by another 7 ft when it is secured on both ends. Hence, the search area will be reduced to just 10 feet only, but it is an unavoidable safety decree. To cover that whole mountain slope, we tied and untied the rope many times on that day to find another specimen of this species. Luckily there were two plants in bloom, with fresh flowers. As I was sure that coming down to the spot again will be a matter of concern I wanted to have one of the best photographs. With strong winds blowing, hanging down on the hill slope secured by a rope, was a very unpleasant situation to produce technically perfect photographs. But somehow I succeeded. I still remember the chill that went down my spine on looking down at the river Teesta flowing below.

Reference:

Habenaria furcifera Lindl., Page no 313 of The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalayas by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling (1898).

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.

Pleione maculata (Lindl.) Lindl. & Paxton.

The Plant

Epiphyte, pseudo-bulbs varying in shape at different stages of growth, generally cylindric to barrel shaped, its surface mottled with purplish brown, enveloped by loose brown fibers. Leaf in pairs, 6 to 15 cm long and 3 to 4 cm in width, narrowly elliptic-oblong, acute, narrowed to the petiole, base sheathed with bracts having nodular inflations. Leaf-less during flowering.

The Flower

Flowers solitary, erect, large, 5 to 6 cm across, rising from the base of the pseudo-bulb by a very short peduncle covered in a large spathaceous flower bract with broad emarginate apex, longer than the ovary. Sepals spreading, sub-equal, oblong to lanceolate, sub-acute, 7 nerved. Petals spreading, narrower than the sepals, of the same length or slightly shorter than latter, oblong, five to seven nerved. Lip broadly elliptic, three lobed, the basal part convolate round the column; the lateral lobes entire and narrower; the terminal broader, with sub-entire edges and broad apex. The disc with 5 to 7 fimbriate ridges. Column long and slightly curved, its apex winged. Pollinia elliptic.

Sepals and petals pure white, occasionally with streaks of dark brownish pink. The lip is white based with its interior marked with yellow and brownish pink streaks. The fimbriate ridges are yellow.

Pleione maculata, (Lindl), Lindl — Pleione maculata (Lindl), Lindl.

The Pursuit

A rare and threatened species of the region. Very rarely spotted in the natural habitats in the past decade. However, it is surprising to see many orchid scientists and researchers published its photographs in many articles. It amused me to know most of them had never been too long in the region. I had closely studied many photographs to find that the colouration and structure never matched the descriptions of King and Pantling. Later, I found that this species is growing in many nurseries of the region – one of the reasons of its disappearance from the natural habitats, and all those scientists had the privilege of documenting the plant and its flower from those nurseries. The species is a native to tropical forests and its translocation to higher altitude made it adopt another characteristics which was evident in all those photographs.

Hence, I decided to find it from its natural habitats itself. As it is a low altitude species and native to tropical valleys, the search was concentrated on the banks of river Teesta. However, I was not able to spot them from any of the places known to me. In the month of October, I was traveling in a service vehicle to another region in search of some species. A group of ladies were the co-passengers, returning to their homes after purchase in connection with Durga puja (a big festival of the region). As a practice, I always show my co-passengers drawings of orchids made by Pantling from my IPad. It had helped me a lot as many people had given me enough tips to find many species. I had shown the drawing of this species also. One of the ladies identified it and even narrated stories of collecting its flowers for the Durga puja (it flowers in the month of October/November, the season of Durga puja). She had explained to me about its location which is near to her maternal home. I noted down all the points for identifying the location from her talks. Next week, I started my journey to her village, where I luckily got some contacts. However, even after searching for three days we were not able to locate the tree or the plant. On the fourth day, as we were about to go to another site for search, we met the same lady in the village market. She is back in her home in connection with the Durga puja. My contacts were very well connected with her and made enquiries about the location of the tree. After getting maximum information, our small party of three went to the place she directed. All the three were climbing different trees to locate the plant. Finally, after a search of around four hours we found a small patch of plants, numbering 14, in full bloom. It was such an exciting moment to all of us. I was so lucky when the whole village was celebrating the Durga puja with local brew and drinks, my loyal contacts were happy to be with me in locating the plant. If we had waited for all the celebrations to be over, we would have found the flowers in a withered state only. With the help of those very kind friends I was able to produce this wonderful photograph with all the characteristics described by King and Pantling.

Later on, last year, I found one more habitat of this rare plant.

Pleione hookeriana (Lindl.) Rollisson.

The Plant

Epiphyte, with small oval shaped pseudo bulbs covered with a few lax sheaths. Leaf solitary, 3 to 5 cm long and 1 to 1.5 cm cm in width, proceeding from the base of the adult pseudo-bulb, narrowly elliptic, acute, tapering towards the petiole. Leafy during flowering. Peduncle longer than the leaves, enclosed in tubular imbricate sheaths.

The Flower

Flowers solitary, 2 to 3 cm across, floral bract about as long as the stalked ovary, arising from the apex of the pseudo-bulb and protruding through the petiole of the leaf. Sepals spreading, sub-equal in length, elliptic to oblong, the dorsal slightly narrowed than the lateral, five nerved. Petals spreading, narrower and longer than the petals, obtuse, 5 to 7 nerved. Lip sub-reniform, cordate at base, broader in its posterior half, minutely erose in its anterior portion, apex retuse, disc with 7 ciliate ridges from the base to apex. Column long and curved, broadly winged. Pollinia obliquely elliptic.

Sepals and petals are of various shades of pale pink to rose, slightly darkening towards the margins. Lip almost white with a few reddish brown markings on its disc. The ciliate ridges are bright yellow.

Pleione hookeriana, Lindl — Pleione hookeriana Lindl.

The Pursuit

A rather common species of the high altitude hills. I had spotted this species from several hilly areas of the region during my work. In the pre-monsoon days this species creates an interesting view, with hundreds of flowers fully covering many tree trunks. Before my research on orchids of Sikkim-Himalayas, I had noticed this species in full bloom during one of my trips to North Sikkim. The observation of the species in flower from a very high altitude caught our attention and we did some photo shoots. On our way back me and my fellow class mates had a long conversation about the species. Later on, I started my research on orchids and became an almost permanent resident of the region. During its flowering season, I was working from Lachen in North Sikkim and decided to study and document the species from those same trees.

The trees are on the right side of a sharp curve on an ascending road (most of the roads of North Sikkim are uphill only!!!). The sharp curve coupled with the ascending nature of the road makes all vehicles slow down there. Thus the flowers on those trees had bought the attention of all passing by. Even the taxi operators got a scheduled stop there for the tourists to have photo shoots.

I visited the place every time when I went up the road. Finally, the flowers started opening up. My visits turned regular and saw more and more flowers in bloom. My intention was to get maximum blooming flowers in one frame. Finally, I decided the shoot for the next day and also wanted to document the top most growing plant in bloom. The reason was that, this is the highest growing epiphytic orchid of the region at 11,800 ft MSL. That means the top most flower on those trees will be the record bearer for the highest growing epiphytic orchid of the region!!!. Our journey uphill from Lachen was systematically planned with ladder, hooks, ropes, cardboards etc. While in the spot only we realized the fact that the ladder width is around half the diameter of the tree, hence it is difficult for it to hold on to the tree. My driver came up with some ideas to fix the ladder rigidly with some iron wires he found nearby. I and my assistant were right up the tree taking much caution not to destroy any plants on the trunk and branches. I selected the topmost flower, luckily it was a fresh flower too. Shooting was so difficult due to heavy winds. The flower was shivering in the wind, which makes sharp photos impossible. My assistant was kind enough to hold many hardboards on almost all sides to prevent wind and made me produce this wonderful photograph of the species, the highest blooming epiphytic orchid of the region!!!

Pleione praecox (Sm.) D.Don.

The Plant

Mostly epiphytic, seen also growing on rocks and even as terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs vary in shape from cylindric to barrel, surface mottled with brown and imperfectly sheathed with fibers. Leaves in pairs, 6 to 14 cm long and 2 to 4 cm in width, membranous, elliptic to oblong, many-nerved, narrowed at the base to the petiole. Leaf less during flowering. Peduncle from the base of the pseudo bulb. Flowers solitary, mostly pendulous, large, 4 to 6 cm across. Floral bract obovoid, obtuse, as long as the stalked ovary. Sepals spreading, sub-equal and lanceolate. Petals spreading, much narrower than the sepals. Lip ovate to orbicular, side lobes absent, the basal convolate round the column, the anterior concave, the mouth wide open with irregular lobulate edges, the apex slightly bifid. The disc with three laciniate lamellae. Column very long, with a short sac at the base. Pollinia clavate.

The Flower

Sepals, petals and lip are of various shades of rose to pink, sometimes darker or lighter. The disc of the lip got many dull yellow to brown spots, the lamellae is of a bright yellow shade. However, several colour forms of this species are spotted on various locations like pure white form, with only the lip with white etc.

Pleione praecox, (Sm) D. Don — Pleione praecox (Sm) D. Don.

The Pursuit

This species is locally common in the region. It blooms in plenty in its natural habitats between September and November. As it blooms after shedding its leaves, the species turns the whole trunk on which it is growing into a shade of pink. The flowers show enough colour variations from dark pink to pale pink and sometimes pure white. My intention was to find the flower with the exact descriptions made by Sir George King and Robert Pantling in their monumental work a century ago. This made the task somewhat difficult. I studied and observed several hundred specimens from various locations and host trees for several days. Finally, zeroed on a particular tree with hundreds of flowers. The tree was of 70 to 80 ft in height with with around 8 ft diameter trunk and huge branches. The flowers which I wanted to document were at a height of around 18 ft from the ground on the main trunk. In the absence of a ladder, I always uses a rope circled around the trunk to climb trees. With this tree that was impossible, as it will destroy many flowers on its trunk. The only option was to climb up another tree near to it and move across its branches to the top of this tree and winch down using a long rope. The cold winds and leafy moss covered branches will not make such movements and manoeuvring easy at staggering heights in deep forests. Somehow, I managed it with the help of my assistant and hung down from the branch with the help of a rope at 20 feet high from the ground and made this wonderful photograph of its flowers – with all the characteristics matching the text of King and Pantling.