Sikkim Himalayan Orchids – Naresh Swami | The Orchids of the Sikkim Himalaya

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.

Dendrobium nobile Lindl.

Epiphyte. Stems, 30 to 60 cm or even longer, erect, widening to the apex. Leaves 4 to 6 cm in length and around 2 cm in width, oblong, apex sub-obtuse and notched, narrowed to the base, coriaceous. Flowers in short racemes from the nodes of leafy as well leafless stems, number various between 1 and 5, each 3 to 5 cm across. Sepals and petals are purple turning white at the base; lip with a deep purple blotch surrounded with white flushed with pale yellow and a purple mucro. Sepals sub-equal, the dorsal oblong-elliptic, the lateral oblong. Petals broader than the sepals, elliptic. Both sepals and petals many veined. Lip broadly ovate-oblong, hairy inside, the apex slightly and mucronate.

The Pursuit

The State Flower of Sikkim. Once a common species of the tropical valleys, collected in large numbers for commercial purposes made it very scarce in its natural habitats. Sir. George King and Robert Pantling described the colouration of flower in detail and I was looking for a perfect match from various locations. However, in most of the cases the description about its sepals and petals was never matched. As per their noting,“the sepals and petals are always purple shading off into a white base”. I decided to look for this species in other locations also. The work I undertook was first of its kind from the region and I wanted it to produce better results. With that intention I visited several locations for this species, to find the exact colouration of flowers as described by the great authors. On high altitudes (above 3800 ft) the flowers are found to be more purplish and at very low altitudes (in the hot valleys of River Teesta) they were more towards a paler shade. Hence, I decided to find the species from an intermediate altitude of 1800 to 2600 ft. I searched for four days in a new location at 2200 ft for this species in vain. Even though I found a lot of them in bloom in some homes, I decided to find a few plants from its natural habitat itself. A young boy of that village, who used to venture deep into the forest, helped me to find a few plants inside the forest. Most of the stems were with full bloom flowers. In those areas the trees are often with many branches which enable easy climbing. We both climbed up to examine those flowers and to my surprise found that the colouration is exactly the same as described by the pioneers of orchids around 120 years ago. It seems the authors also collected the species from around the same altitude for their monumental work. As usual when in plenty, it will be very difficult to find a perfect one to photograph. After climbing several trees found this perfect bunch of flowers and produced this amazing photograph of this Himalayan beauty. This species is a prime example of variations caused due to altitude difference. Even though many species survive on a wide range of altitudes, all of them got their own perfect habitats.

Dendrobium formosum Roxb.

Epiphyte. Stems erect, 10 to 18 cm long and 1 to 2 cm in cross section, cylindrical, slightly narrowed to the base. Leaves alternate, sessile, oblong, the apex notched, 5 to 8 cm long and 1 to 2 cm in width. Flowers large, sepal and petals pure white, lip white with an orbicular yellow marking on its disc extended to the base in the form of a ridge. Sepals very narrow, oblong-lanceolate, acute, spreading, the lateral ones very slightly keeled. Petals much larger than the petals, sub-orbicular. Lip broadly obovate, side lobes indistinct, terminal lobe dilated, apex very broad.

The Pursuit

This species bears the largest flowers of all Dendrobiums of the region and the flowers are very attractive too. Sir. Joseph Dalton Hooker in his iconic work, “The Flora of British India” noted about three varieties of this species. I never came across this species on any of my flower hunts. The region were I lived was famous for many flower nurseries and got a good collection of many species. Still, this species remained missing, with no information available with anyone about its habitats, other than, “At the base of Sikkim-Himalayas” noted by Sir. George King and Robert Pantling. The flowering season was mentioned as May, in their monumental work on orchids. With the eagerness to see this species in bloom I planned my surveys to the plains of the Himalayas in the early summer days. The plains are generally of active Tea estates, which produces thousands of tons of Tea every year. The estates are full of activities with thousands and thousands of workers involved everyday. They got their own hospitals, schools, accommodations, roads, shopping centers etc. However, as a general rule they don’t cut any trees and those trees host a lot of tropical epiphytic orchids also. I decided to concentrate on those trees inside the estates for this species. Every day I came across a lot of workers and showed them the drawings of this species, to ascertain if anybody had come across this plant. Working on those plains under the open sky in the summer months of March and April was a very tiring affair. Moreover, my base station was at an altitude about 4000 ft, where the climate was very moderate and comfortable. Every day in a matter of 3 hrs drive I am in the plains where the temperature soars above 40C, which was like stepping inside a hot furnace. However, the desire to find this plant and a feeling that I will get this species in that season itself made me visit various estates in the plains continuously for several days. Every day I returned with no trace of this species but with many admirers, who were so happy to know about my passion. One day I came to know about a former manager of a tea estate who got a good collection of tropical orchids of the area. A visit to his home made be so happy, he had around 140 tropical orchids in his garden, a few of them were in full bloom also. However, my purpose of visit was not fulfilled, the species I am looking for was not found there. I enquired with him about the species I am looking for. He was so happy with my work and explained to me about all those species he had seen and collected from the region, including the one I was looking for. He was also having that species till few years back, it died because of some reason. But, he helped with sufficient information about the place from where his gardener brought it some 30 years back. The next day I started my new search in the area he mentioned. Most of the trees there were more than 50 to 60 years old, so I was sure I will find the plant I am looking for. After three continuous days of survey with the help of a few friends we found 7 plants of this species, 3 in buds. It was like the plants were waiting for me. All the plants were on the sides of tall trees at around 15 to 20 ft height. Climbed up those trees with buds to ascertain the identity and the time required for the buds to bloom. Waited for 11 days to see the first flower in bloom. My vehicle was sent to bring the former manager to that place, as I wished he should also be part of the documentation process. Without his advice, I might not have surveyed those areas and would have never seen the species also. Everything was perfect, the climb, the wind, the placing of flashes etc and produced a wonderful photograph of the species. Those days were so hot, I spend more money on buying drinking water for me than to the fuel for my vehicle!!!.

Coelogyne cristata Lindl.

Epiphyte as well as lithophyte. Pseudo-bulbs 3 to 5 cm long, cylindric, very smooth, sheathed at the base, attached rather 3 to 5 cm distant on stout rhizome. Entire plant is pendulous. Leaves in pairs, narrowed to the sessile base, linear-oblong, acute, 7 to 12 cm long and around 2 cm in width. Racemes from the base of the pseudobulbs, pendulous, about as long as the leaves. Flowers large 4 to 6 c across, white except the disc of the lip, which is yellowish orange. Sepals and petals sub-equal, oblong, with entire undulate edges. Lip oblong, with rounded lateral lobes, disc between the side lobes with four fimbriate lamellae.

The Pursuit

A plant often found in huge pendulous clusters growing on trees and rocks of the region above 7000 ft. Found this in flower on a holiday trip to a near by waterfall. However, my favourite shooting gear, 105mm/2.8 micro lens and flashes were not with me. Cutting short my trip ahead and with a promise of joining the party next day, I returned to my place to get all the flower shooting accessories. Some minor trouble with the vehicle delayed my return to the location. I reached there by evening only, by then the freshness of those flowers found in the morning was not there, and decided to find a few new ones the next day. Went ahead to the water falls to be with my friends for the evening. Started the journey before sunrise the next day so as to be at the spot to shoot the flower in full bloom. I found 28 of them in flower, it was such a wonderful sight and will remain in my mind when ever I talk about this particular species. As usual photographing a pure white flower is a very tricky affair. The latest lighting techniques I use will even make microscopic dusts visible. However, with God’s grace the one I selected to photograph was a perfect one and I had this wonderful photograph without much trouble.

Bulbophyllum scabratum Rchb.f.

Epiphyte as well as lithophyte. Always in clusters with pseudo-bulbs crowded together forming dense turfs. Bulbs very small, ovoid less than 1 cm long. Leaf solitary, linear-lanceolate, acute, the base narrowed to the petiole 5 to 8 cm long and less than 2 cm in width. Scape much shorter than the leaves, slender, erect, minutely bracteate, bearing at its apex 3 to 7 flowers in an umbel. Flowers bright yellow throughout with slight ocherous tinge here and there. Dorsal sepal free at its base from the lateral pair, very concave, vaulted over the column, ovate, shortly acuminate. The lateral pair much longer than the dorsal, linear lanceolate, partly coherent, the bases and apices free. Petals broadly ovate, acute. The margins of petals and sepals are teethed. Lip oblong, sub-acute, entire, fleshy, very concave near the base.

The Pursuit

A very small plant, found specially on rocks attracts attention with its cluster growing nature. Found few clusters on rocks and on trees around a sub-tropical habitat. Identified as Cirrhopetalum caespitosum, Wall. ex Lindl (Bulbophyllum scabratum Rchb.f.) with its cluster growing property. Waited till the summer months to document it in bloom. The route through its habitat was used frequently by me for other surveys in the region, so at least visited the plant twice a week during the summer months. After seeing them in buds, the anxiety level to shoot them in bloom made my visiting frequency go up. However, I never took more tension on this particular species as there were a few clusters around that region. If I miss one in bloom I can zero on another one. It started blooming by the mid Summer and initially it seems the flowers are very small, so waited for a full grown cluster to bear healthy flowers and got this wonderful photograph.