Ground orchids are fascinating. We have over 30 different species growing on our property and I didn't take much notice until a few years ago. But once I started looking I got hooked. We have a plant which has a flower very similar to the Amitostigma monamthum but is not an orchid. I think it is a trigger plant and it also has white and pink flowers.
Most of our Orchid viewing is done at Supermarkets and Nurseries and Orchid shows. Wonderful to see a natural "show" such as this and with such good description, again, many thanks!
Thanks for watching James. To see so many orchids in the wild is a special experience. I've seen orchids in the wild before many times, but this region is exceptional. I hope to make a return journey one day.
Stunning landscapes! China does have incredible biodiversity. It’s a dream of mine to see many of the plants I cultivate in the wild. Did you get around to doing a video on bamboo, since you were in Sichuan?
Yes, the mountains of western China on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau are stunning in many respects. While there I did see some bamboo, but mostly it was kind of shrubby stuff, not the tall species of the lowland areas (for example, moso bamboo). I think mostly I saw Yushania brevipaniculata, a common food source for the panda bear. Here in Japan moso is a common plant nowadays, though not native. I forms impressive colonies at low elevation. I've featured it in a number of my past videos.
Oooh totally unrelated, but do you know of a place where the different color forms of orchids, like cattleyas, for example are defined? Is there a list somewhere that defines varieties like, perola, flammea, integra, orlata, striata, venosa, etc? This is driving me nuts and I've googled all over the place, including the international taxonomic rules of nomenclature, but can't find a list with definitions of different orchid varieties. I figured with as much as you know, you might be able to point me in the right direction. Thank you so much.
When it comes to those kinds of distinctions, I think you won't find overarching classifications between genera or hybrid groups. As far as the scientific community is concerned, this type of naming is based on horticultural selections, and does not belong to any specific nomenclature system. For instance, scientifically there only is one accepted name for Cattleya walkeriana, all other designations are products of horticultural's ideas. And that can be VERY complicated and variable, depending on who's talking. That said, I found this fun little blog post about C. walkeriana, which you may find interesting. There is a nice link to a Japanese page showing the bewildering variety of flower color in this species too, including 'perola', 'flammea', etc. forms. Enjoy. hoorayplants.blogspot.jp/2013/11/i-love-cattleya-walkeriana.html
Man, I'd love to one day. Asia has some incredible places to see wild plants and the Philippines look fantastic! I'd also love to see vireya rhododendrons in the wild, there are supposed to be plenty there as well. One day!
Do you ever come to the USA into an area where certain Epipactis are native and considered noxious weeds or do you have any friends who live in such areas and may be willing to dig some up for me? Normally I'd not have wild orchids dug up, but since one species that is taking over is not native to the USA and is encroaching on other, native plant habitats, I'm all for it. I also read on the msu site that if you don't get all the roots, they will come back from root portions left in the soil. That sounds a bit crazy to me..I mean...I know some plants are capable of doing that, but I guess I wouldn't put it past an orchid to do the same. They do way crazier things than that like making bucket shaped flowers compete with spouts that drip liquid, so why not have additional growing points on sections of underground portions like grass does with stolons? Anyway, if a plant can recover from little leftover underground bits, I think it would be able to handle being transplanted just fine.
Sorry, I don't know of anyone who has this plant in the states. It is pretty common in much of temperate eastern North America, and is listed as a potential invasive in Wisconsin, though I doubt it will cause much trouble in most situations. Epipactis are interesting in that some members of the genus are relatively easy to grow (for example E. gigantea and E. palustris) while others aren't due their close symbiotic relationship with fungi even as adults. E. helleborine falls into the latter group so it will tend to grow where it wants, and not in other places. Still, if you can get plants with some of their native soil, you may have a chance transplanting them. Interestingly, these "extra fungi dependent" species often have nearly chlorophyll free forms that grow into adulthood since the fungi provide them all the carbohydrates needed to survive. That's pretty cool! I've seen pure white E. helleborine in NY state before - quite a sight. I'd check out orchid forums for folks who have some in their gardens that they don't want. I'm sure somebody would be happy to send you some. Then there's always eBay...
Yeah I've seen photos of the white ones too! It seems to be a really variable species, and yes, I'd definitely request some of the dirt. I've also considered growing a sapling or other plants in the pot if I can figure out what other species they grow with. Sort of like..I saw this documentary clip on a mycoheterotrophic plant that they also grew a sapling in so the plant could live. I wonder though, since the species is variable, I wonder if you removed a white one from its host and gave it good light, if it might start producing chlorophyll on its own. Maybe when conditions are right (or wrong), it's just an opportunist and is adaptable enough to survive off of its symbiotic fungi...so if it happens to germinate in deep shade and the fungus is there, it can live off the fungus but if it has enough light, maybe that same individual could sustain itself. Like when..I had this orchid with white roots because they formed in a dark pot, but after a while of being exposed to the light via a clear pot, they started greening up. I know addition of sunlight and removal from host is not the same thing, but if white roots were able to change in response to sunlight, perhaps a white helliborine may be able to adjust as well. I'll have to look that up. Unfortunately I live out west, in a high desert, so we don't have them. I started emailing orchid societies and a vendor in New York and Ohio., (it's listed as a noxious weed there) and it grows down to places in North Carolina (I have a friend there). So I'm hoping to find some. I may also contact extension offices too. Thanks for your response and for sharing your knowledge with us. There aren't very many highly educated orchid people making videos, and I for one, really love that you share your love with the world.
Also what's the difference between habenaria and amitostigma? The flowers look reeeealy similar. Is this a name change or are they different geographical areas....?
Habenaria and Amitostigma are within the same subtribe, Orchidinae, though I would say that Amitostigma are closer to the genera Ponerorchis, Galearis, and Orchis rather than Habenaria. Habenaria is probably more aligned with Pecteilis, Platenthera or Dactylorhiza. In the field, it is difficult to distinguish Ponerorchis chusua and Galearis roborovskyi, in particular. To my eyes, most Ponerorchis or Amitostigma I've seen are morphologically very similar to European Orchis species, and also Amerorchis rotundifolia. That said, outward appearance can be decieving, and cladistic relationships via DNA anaylsis probably reveal the most valid relationships. For example: www.researchgate.net/profile/Tomohisa_Yukawa2/publication/277252202/viewer/AS:331196300054544@1455974760281/background/11.png Pretty crazy, right? The relationships result in clusterings, known as "clades" and these can be grouped into larger groups called "superclades". In this way we can find the most probable answers to who's related to whom without human interpretation of outward characteristics (e.g. this flower looks like than one, etc.) Sorry, in the end there are no simple answers, hence specialists will aways have a job :)
Thank you so much for typing that all out. Also, next question...K I studied botany in college and have two classes left..plant physiology and something else like native plants. Don't have any textbooks, didn't learn anything I wanted to. All orchid books I've been able to find are just the same rehash of how to (except Northern's book), so two questions... Can you recommend any books, textbooks or otherwise about orchid taxonomy, physiology, etc. second question...there was sort of this statement made that saying 'Latin name' is incorrect because plant names have roots from Greek and a slew of other different languages, but I read the international code of botanical nomenclature the other day saying that there are clear rules to how names are to be 'latinized' but I can't find that document again...so just curious as to what your opinion on that is.
Oh, but it's not surprising that DNA reveals crazy relationships..like I saw this documentary about plants back in the day that said the lotus is more closely related to some tree than it is to the water lily (or vice versa), but the environment in which the organism evolved, in this case water, sort of shapes how the plant looks. Just like how there are succulent plants with similar shapes like aloe on this and the African continent that look very similar but are not related, but certain shapes and characteristics help things survive in their environments, so they look similar. I think it's really interesting what DNA is revealing, but the seemingly constant name changing of orchids is maddening to a hobbyist. I don't care if they've gotten rid of the genus 'odontoglossum,' I'm still not calling them 'oncidium.'
Linneaus famously adopted the binomial classification scheme used today. The rules governing the naming of plants is contained within the International code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (ICN). See this article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Code_of_Nomenclature_for_algae,_fungi,_and_plants One of the most seminal books written about orchids is Dressler's "The Orchids: Natural History and Classification" Obviously there have been changes since its writing, but it remains an excellent publication. On Amazon: www.amazon.com/Orchids-Natural-History-Classification/dp/0674875257
Hello! Thank you for a fantastic video. Is it okay to use the video and images from your website for a drawing reference? I want to participate in a botanical illustration competition and draw the wild orchid from this video - phaius delavayi (maybe other in future too).
@9:32 i have this kind of plant in my inaturalist observation that look like this. www.inaturalist.org/observations/19001873 what do you think is this the same?
Hi Greg. The plant you've got there is likely one of the tropical "jewel orchids", perhaps in the genus Anoectochilus, Goodyera or perhaps Macodes. The one in my video was nominally identified by Dr. Philip Cribb as Platenthera diphylla. The name "diphylla" means "two leaves" and all these plants clearly had just one leaf, so this may be an undescribed species or perhaps just a form of P. diphylla. Thanks for watching!
The best red colored orchids IMO are Phragmipedium besseae and some of its hybrids, a number of Miltonia hybrids, several Tolumnia hybrids, and Cattleya coccinea and its hybrids. There are lots of other red flowered orchid hybrids and species of course, but these are some of the best.
Many of the places in the video were in national parks, though some were just on the roadside. Northwestern China is still full of incredibly wild places. A botanical paradise.
