Cutting your Thunia
Propagating orchids is usually a tedious process, but there are a few orchids that multiply rapidly by cuttings. Flower stems (after flowering) of Phaius tankervilleae are an example. Here, I show the propagation of Thunia.
Noël Bernard: ‘The greatest hope of French botany’
Nora De Angelli commemorates a man whose astonishingly quick mind was lost too soon to the world of orchids. During his short but productive career, Noël Bernard (1874–1911) shed much light on the nature of the endophytic fungi found in orchids and their importance to their survival. His major discovery was the symbiotic germination of orchid seeds.
Orchids as weeds
Orchids are often perceived as rare, vulnerable, even ‘weak’ plants. They need pampering or they will die. In reality, orchids are tough plants that often grow in habitats where other plants can’t. Some orchids have even become invasive weeds outside their native habitat. How do they do that?
Book review: Aerangis 2nd Edition, by Isobyl la Croix, 2022, American Orchid Society. 228 pages,
There are about thirty thousand species of orchids. But there are, basically, just three kinds of orchid books. The first is general orchid books. Once popular, their function is now largely taken over by websites. The second kind of books is regional monographs: what orchids do occur in a certain region? Here, websites run by local enthusiasts have partly taken over, although the better books of this kind are still leading.
The narcotic nectar of Epipactis orchids
Epipactis is a well-known orchid genus, represented by approximately 72 species and nothospecies (species of hybrid origin) distributed across Europe, eastward through Asia to Japan, and southward to tropical Africa. In North America, the genus has only one endemic representative, Epcts gigantea.