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Members can have pictures of their orchid collection posted here. Just email Tony

Michael Zink's Orchids

Brassavola nodosa

Download; Plant Display Template

CULTURAL AWARD, April 201

Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica grown by Peter & Shirley

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GENERAL MEETING 10 April 2012, 7.45 pm

Present: 35
Apologies: Phil, Mavis, Noel, Eva
Visitors: Nil
New members: Nil
Minutes: Minutes as circulated accepted (Anne, Ian)
Business Arising: Nil

NEXT MEETING - TUESDAY 8 MAY
AT WILSON COMMUNITY HALL

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2012
At 10am on the Sunday after the fourth Thursday of each month. Please bring chairs and a plate of food to share.

May - John, Bicton
June - Adrian & Deanne, Safety Bay
July - Gordon, Karrinyup

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Financial Report: The Financial Report was tabled by Sandra. Current balance is $3129.91. #2 A/c $1812.00 (Ian, Ken)

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Tony & Mavis's Orchids

Dendrobium bigibbum

Miltonia spectabilis Gary Yong Gee says....I believe that the photo of Miltonia spectabilis in the newsletter represents another Milt. x bluntii. Milt. moreliana and Milt. spectabilis are both single-flowered species.

Miltonia X bluntii (natural hybrid Miltonia clowesii X spectabilis)

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General Business:

This was the first meeting at the Belmont Sport & Recreation Hall, where we were moved from the room we had thought to be in to a larger one. Pro's & Cons were discussed.
1. The primary doubt raised was the reliability of the hall booking, whether we would get moved around to suit numbers etc.
2. Storage for books etc. Adrian said that a large wheeled trolley could be built to transport the books from storage area to hall? (room to store trolley?).
3. Kitchen distance from meeting room
4. The possibility that joining 6 members would be cheaper than paying the $100 casual rental fee for two meetings.
5. Other halls will still be investigated by various members of the committee. It was moved by Peter seconded by Ken that we join 6 members to the Belmont Sports & Recreation Club.Motion was carried and Adrian obtained enrolment forms.

The members present agreed to $500 being allocated for the display at the AOC Conference.

Ken will let the members know as soon as lists are available for pre-ordering plants to be brought to the Conference. It is hoped that plants can be obtained for use as monthly sales plants, using funds from No. 2 Account.

While in the E.S recently, Mich visited Orchid Species Plus. She found the plants good but expensive. The owners have indicated they will be in Perth for the Conference and will sell off any surplus plants as they do not wish to cart them back home.

Bruce was thanked for hosting the enjoyable Home Visit in March.

A quantity of pieces of Maxillaria porphyrostele was donated by Peter. These will be potted up and used for club raffles etc.

While there are no library facilities at present, Mich would still appreciate the return of any books by the AGM so she can audit the library collection.

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Correspondence:

Inwards:
City of Belmont - Notice of Forster Park car park closure until July
City of Belmont - Credit Note for April, confirmation of cancellation of April, May & June bookings
Merle - receipt for sponsorship
City of Belmont - Seniors Club Development Day.
B. Larson (Chairman AOC Conf. Committee) - Assistance to clubs staging displays at the AOC Conference
Various club newsletters

Outwards:
To City of Belmont - cancellation of April, May & June bookings for Forster Park Hall
Business Arising: Nil

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Water Testing
Peter has offered to test your home water supply for Ph and total dissolved salts. However, temporarily his Ph meeter is inoperative, and at the next meeting, he is happy to test plain water and standard fertiliser solution for total dissolved salts. If you wish to take advantage of this offer, please bring a 250ml sample of plain water in a small jar and similar size sample of mixed fertiliser at the normal concentration that you use. Label each bottle clearly with your name and details, ie whether it is the plain water or the fertiliser mix, and for the latter, what fertiliser and concentration. Peter will do the testing and mark the results on your label. Thanks Peter

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Raffle: Chris, Courtney, Ken, Jeanine
Name Badge: Chris

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Some excellent pictures of orchids in Peru......

http://www.trekperu.org/travel02.html

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Gordon's Orchids

Cattleya bowringiana

Epidendrum elongatum

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NOTES FROM YOUR COMMITTEE

1. The next meeting is the Club's AGM. Please give some thought to joining the Committee - it isn't an onerous task, and your Society benefits from your ideas and suggestions.

2. This meeting will be held at the Wilson Community Hall in Braibrise Road, Wilson (this is the hall that ANOS use for their meetings) to enable us to assess its suitability for our use.

3. The June meeting will be a silent auction, so please prepare some plants now. We know that you will also be setting plants aside for sale at the AOC, but this is one of the society's main fundraisers. For new members, it is an excellent way to expand your species collection.

4. While we realise that the library is not currently available, please bring back any books or periodicals that you have so that Mich can undertake the annual audit.

5. AOC volunteer forms are now on the AOC website - please give some thought to how you might assist in making this event the most successful conference ever.

6. If you haven't ordered your new badge yet, please see Mich. The cost for badges with a magnetic clip is $13.50, and with pin is $11.50.

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FOR SALE/WANTED

Murray is interested in buying some virus test kits from the following supplier....
https://orders.agdia.com/InventoryD.asp?loc=IN&collection=ISK%2013301&attribute_Size=25

With freight costs they work out at about $11.50 each for the minimum order, but he is hoping that cost will come down a bit for larger orders. If you are interested in sharing costs for some test kits, please contact Murray on 9310 2800.

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Peter and Shirley's Orchids

Phalaenopsis hierogylphica

Phalaenopsis sanderiana

Phalaenopsis tetraspis var. alba

Vanda lamellata

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MONTHLY PLANT

Dendrobium aemulum

Cost: $12.00

Difficulty: Grows easily in shadehouse conditions in WA

Country of origin: Northern New South Wales and Queensland

Description: Squat reddish/brown pseudobulbs, leathery apical leaves

Dendrobium aemulum R Brown 1810 (now Tropilis aemula), the Ironbark Feather or Brush Box orchid is found growing as an epiphyte on iron-barked Eucalyptus spp and Brush Box from South Eastern NSW to Northern Queensland. It was previously recorded in sections Calyptochilus and Dendrocoryne.

It grows in open forest at low altitude from the coast through the coastal ranges. Dendrobium aemulum is reported to be a very variable species, with some forms recognised on the basis of their host.

The white, feathery flowers (sometimes with pink flushing) appear in spring on short, though somewhat sparsely flowered racemes. The flowers themselves are relatively large, with narrow sepals and petals, and have a pleasant morning fragrance. Multiple flower racemes arising from upper nodes on each mature pseudobulb compensate for the relatively small number of flowers per raceme, making make this a showy species when well grown.

To flourish, Dendrobium aemulum needs bright light, consistent humidity and above all, abundant air movement. In practice, this is best achieved by slab mounting on old dry hardwood, natural cork or similar media. They can also be attached to garden trees provided the climate is suitable.

I have found that this species seems resistant to many of the insect pest and fungus pathogens around, and have only had problems where there was not enough air movement. Even though the leaves are hard and leathery, cotton and hard scale will be moved in by the ants and severely set the plant back.

Thanks to Mich who has grown these plants on for several months.

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John Brogan writes….
Saw the article in Newsletter re Den. aemulum - can offer some comment - in eastern NSW from Victorian border to southern Qld this orchid has 3 distinct forms. Another (calytrophylum) grows in north Qld.
NSW forms - southern NSW green to purple leaves (mainly purple) with stumpy cigar shaped dark red canes - unmistakeable form which grows only high up on the trunks of grey ironbark trees.
The form in the Newsletter is brush box which has greenish grey slender canes and grows only on brush box trees or on rocks in creeks at or near the base of host trees. Generally speaking it comes from the mid north coast of NSW ( Port Macquarie, etc, and further north)
The 3rd form has reddish to purple slender canes and grows on the mid north coast of NSW, exclusively on black ironbark trees, with rare exceptions on the trunks of dead forest she-oaks - but not lithophytic.
The most notable feature of these orchids is that their perfume is the most luxuriant and pleasant of all native orchids within the first 3 days of blossoming. Flowers last for 2 weeks by which time the colour has changed to light pink and the perfume has abated.
Not only will it not suffer lightly impediments to air movement around it, but it will die back in captivity on a mount unless heavily dosed with dynamic lifter pellets at the back/top of the mount, with water every 2 or 3 days. I have a nice specimen of the cigar shaped one if you would like it for auction/fund raising/or display. If so, it's coming your way
Regards, John B.

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Ken & Chris's Orchids

Epidendrum diffusum

Pleurothallis saundersiana

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The Genus Sophronitis

Lindley founded the taxon in 1828 when he described Sophronitis cernua Lindl., the type species for the genus (note: this is a somewhat modest species compared with Sophronitis coccinea which is found in in the same general habitat). This genus of nine species is characterised by round or tapered pseudobulbs with single leaves; a short, stout column with small wings on each side of the stigmatic cavity; and eight pollinia. Most of the flowers in this genus are red shades with variants of yellow, salmon, orange, vermillion, coral rose and magenta tonings. There are few if any alba forms, and the yellow forms are quite rare and horticulturally very desirable. The Brazilian local name for Sophronitis is vermelho referring to its colour.

The genus name Sophronitis is derived from the Greek sophron, meaning chaste or modest, and, in this instance, small. However the bright colours of the flowers hardly fit that bill (although this is not the only example of a diminutive orchid with relatively large, brightly coloured flowers, for example, Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, and Hymenorchis javieri which are both diminutive species with brightly coloured flowers).

In common with many of the South American genera that were first described in the early 1800s, this genus has been extensively revised. The Brazilian Laelias had been moved into Sophronitis in 2000, and subsequently in January 2008, the International Orchid Committee reduced Sophronitis to synonymy under Cattleya. (Note - the Royal Horticultural Society had already moved a hybrid of the rupicolous Laelia that had been renamed Sophronitis esalqueana into the genus Cattleya.)

In 2000, the first DNA study of the Laeliinae was reported in Lindleyana. A key result of that study was the finding the Brazilian Laelias did not belong with the Mexican Laelias (which included the type species Laelia anceps). The solution was to place the Brazilian Laelias into Sophronitis, although other authors proposed to split them into several
segregate genera. While publication of Genera Orchidacearum Vol 4 in 2006 led to many name changes in artificial hybrid names in this alliance, the situation would have been significantly worse had this group of species been carved into a number of smaller genera.

Recent DNA studies with nine plastid regions plus the original ITS dataset have led to a better understanding of this group. While this expanded Sophronitis is always supported, it is also imbedded among species traditionally recognised as Cattleya. This meant that two options had to be considered, one the creation of new genera for the various subgroups of Cattleya or two to reduce all Sophronitis species with Cattleya and reflect this as subgenera or sections of a greatly expanded Cattleya. The latter solution was preferred as it provided better nomenclatural stability for hybrids.

So once again, we hobbyist orchid growers have to get used to a new name for the genus. For the purpose of this article and simplicity, I will continue to refer to these species as Sophronitis.

Orchid growers have long been enthralled by the brightly coloured, attractively displayed flowers, on such diminutive plants. However, cultivation is not always easy and due to its diminutive nature, this genus appears particularly susceptible to sap-sucking pests. The genus is well known for temperamental flower production, and in common with some other small species, are known to flower themselves to death (perhaps a desperate survival mechanism). It is also reported that a good flush of flowers one year is followed by a much reduced flush the next year.

With the exception of S. cernua and S. pterocarpa (and the Brazilian Laelias more recently transferred to Sophronitis), flowers are borne singly. Some rarer clones of S. coccinea where the raceme carries two flowers exist , but are rare and in high demand by collectors. Members of the genus have been extensively used in hybridisation to impart red and orange colouring, compact growth and round flower shape.

This genus inhabits mountainous regions along, and inland from the Brazilian coast at elevations from sea level to more than 2200m. Given the colourful red flowers and structure of the lip and column, it is thought that they are pollinated by humming birds (Dressler 1981), although I was unable to find any other reference to this association.

Given this habitat, it is not surprising that this genus requires year round humidity and good air movement. While the plants may partly dry out during the middle of the day, cloud cover and associated mists in the late afternoon restore the humidity. Therefore, successful culture is most often achieved by attempting to duplicate nature by limiting diurnal temperature variation, maintaining high humidity, and choosing the media carefully as they appear to resent being re-potted or re-mounted. Withner (1993) recommends osmunda, treefern pots (we could probably use slabs), moss covered bark or moss itself (perhaps sphagnum moss). It would be prudent to choose a cultivation method that will provide for 4-5 years before needing replacement. When needing to be transferred, it is critical to minimise root disturbance and resist the temptation to split the plant.

As the flowers of the species in this genus (excluding the Brazilian Laelias) are similar in form and colour, habitat, time of blooming and vegetative structure are the key factors in determining which Sophronitis species is being observed.

The first species is S. acuensis from the Organ mountains. Fowlie (1975) identified this species in September from plants collected at 2,100m growing epiphytically on small creek-side trees in ravines that extended down the mountainside. The plants that were in full sun were flowering whereas those in heavy shade were not and did not appear nearly so vigorous. This habitat is higher and colder than the other species.

A mature plant is only 5cm high, and the flower is a livid deep red in colour with the usual Sophronitis shape. Apparently, the colour becomes orange-red in cultivation in the US over time. There is also said to be a very desirable clone with a yellow labellum which is sometimes seen as S. acuensis var xanthocheila. Frequently, this species is confused with S. cernua.

Source: http://www.orchidspecies.com/sophacuensis.htm

S. bicolor Miranda 1991 is a recently discovered species, and according to Withner (1993), resolved some of the discrepancies within the genus, more particularly the significant number of varietal forms of S. coccinea, one of which was referred to var. tetraploidea or var. gigantea. While this does not mean that there are not tetraploid clones of S. coccinea, it does provide impetus for further testing to establish the truth or otherwise of the attribution of tetraploidy.
Miranda observed that this species is easily identified by its size. The elongated leaves are up to 15cm in length, similar to Laelia pumila. Another distinguishing feature is the loose-tipped bracts sheathing new pseudobulbs on developing growths and 5cm flower racemes which are significantly longer than the other species in the genus.

Miranda, who is the proprietor of Orquidario Boa Vista in Rio de Janeiro identified this species amongst other plants of S. coccinea growing in his nursery. It appears that it was collected from the Organ mountains at 1,000m altitude. The description notes that this species may naturally exhibit red pigmentation in the leaves that is not related to light exposure (cf S. coccinea). The sepals and petals can vary from red to orange as the following photo from http://www.orchidboard.com/community/cattleya-alliance/58706-cattleya-dichroma-sophronitis-bicolor.html shows.

For some great photos, look at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/orchid/sophronitis/description_of_species.htm

To be continued

As usual, any and all comments are welcome

 

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