Cumann Magairlíní na hÉireann

Volume 15, Issue One

THE IRISH ORCHID SOCIETY
OFFICERS & COMMITTEE
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
Brendan Sayers (Chairperson) (renewable in June of each year)
Mary Bradshaw (Treasurer)
(Secretary) Vacant  Adult Single €20.00
Laurence T. May (Editor)  Family €30.00
 OAP/Student* €15.00
Committee: (*Confirmation of student status required)
Marina Andreeva
Lisa Coffey Please make cheques or PO payable to: The Secretary, Irish Orchid Society
Aleksandra Kucharczyk Payments may be made by Credit Card and by PayPal on the IOS website.
Laurence T. May Members and friends may also donate in support of the Society’s educational
activities and Pollinia. Please contact the Editor for information on advertising.

Applications, questions about membership and other society communications

POLLINIA should be made to:
(pol-LIN-ee-uh)
Secretary
The compact packets of pollen found in orchid The Irish Orchid Society
flowers. Plural of Pollinium. c/o National Botanic Gardens
Botanic Road, Dublin, D09 E7F2, Ireland
Waxy pollen clumps or grains usually found in
the anthers of most orchids; often yellow,
distinct, and found under the pollen cap of the The Editorial Staff reserve the right to edit and/or amend articles submitted to
column. the Newsletter.
Pollinia contain the male reproductive cells. The views or comments published within this Newsletter are not necessarily
Latin pollin-, stem of pollen "fine flour, dust." views shared by either the Editorial Staff or the Irish Orchid Society.
Copyright © 2005-2017.

Contributions of articles, photos or comments may be sent by email to:

ios-pollinia@gmail.com or by post to:
Laurence T. May, Bellarush,
Castlebaldwin, via Boyle, F52 DV79
Co. Roscommon, Ireland

Copies of this and previous issues (in pdf format) are available at:
http://www.pollinia.org
Orchid Pollinia
Print copies may be ordered. Please contact the Editor.
Copyrights for
the photogra-
phers’ and artists’

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 2 ]

IOS & OTHER ORCHID EVENTS, FAIRS, MAY POTTING WORKSHOP
MEETINGS, SHOWS, CONFERENCES 6 Saturday May 6th, 2017,
2017
10:30am and 2pm
Price €20
All are welcome
Duration: 1 to 1½ hours
Numbers are limited, so please book early.
Email to: info@irishorchidsociety.org
Compost will be available to purchase.
All talks are held in the Visitors Centre of the National Botanic JUNE
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND
Gardens, Glasnevin, and begin at 7:30pm, unless otherwise
stated. Please check the IOS website for possible changes.
12 MEMBERS’ NIGHT
2017 Monday June 12th, 7:30pm
The traditional state of the Society address will be
FEB MEMBERS’ NIGHT given with Committee members offering ideas to
advance the society in the year ahead. It is also the
6 Monday February 6th, 2017, 7:30pm
Bring along your orchids for discussion, whether forum for members to give their feedback and
2017
you have problems with them, need advice, or suggestions. Bring your orchids for discussion,
simply just want to show them off. whether you have problems with them, need advice,
or simply just want to show them off.
MAR
MARIE ANDREEVA
JULY FIELD TRIP TO BULL ISLAND
6 A PEEK INTO THE WORKINGS OF THE 6 Monday, 6 July at 6.30pm
We experience and study some of our native
2017 RHS 2017
orchids. Meet at the Visitors Centre in Bull Island.
Monday March 6th, 7:30pm info@irishorchidsociety.org

RHS LONDON ORCHID SHOW AND PREVIEW

APR 2017 DUBLIN ORCHID FAIR EVENING—2017
Saturday April 22rd & Sunday 23rd March 28th-Preview. Open March 29th-30th. RHS Halls
22-23 Opening hours: 10am – 5pm, Admission free Contact: http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhs-london-show
2017
The annual orchid fair organised by the National
Botanic Gardens is to be held this weekend in the IRISH BANK HOLIDAYS 2017
conservatory at the gardens in Glasnevin. This is the Sunday Jan 1 New Year's Day
premier annual orchid event in Ireland with a large Friday Mar 17 St. Patrick's Day
selection of species and hybrids for sale. Friday Apr14 Good Friday
Sunday April 16 Easter
Burnham and other nurseries will be participating. Monday April 17 Easter Monday
Members are invited to bring their flowering Monday May 1 May Day
specimens to the show for display and to enter our Monday Jun 5 June Bank Holiday
traditional competition. This is an important
promotional showcase and fundraising event so
please contribute in any way. We shall also hold our 22ND WORLD ORCHID
very popular raffle. CONFERENCE
Guayaquil, Ecuador -
November 8th through 12th 2017
http://www.woc22.com/

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [3 ]

FROM THE EDITOR
Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh to all Irish Orchid Society members, their families and friends.

Should you be looking for suitable Christmas gifts for family or friends who are interested in orchids, a year’s membership,
(renewal extension or new) to the Irish Orchid Society is the ideal present (and also for anniversaries, birthdays, etc.)

Please use the Membership page on our website (http://irishorchidsociety.org/membership.php), and pay through PayPal, or contact
the Secretary directly to ensure your gift will be arranged in time. E-mail: info@irishorchidsociety.org

The Society regrets that our Secretary Deirdre McGrane has had to resign. Members who are interested in the position please
contact Brendan Sayers.

A member mindful of the 1916 centennial has written to ask that I change wordings in Pollinia. In standard English usage, the
toponym "the British Isles" refers to a European archipelago consisting of Great Britain, Ireland and adjacent islands. However, the
word "British" is also an adjective and demonym referring to the United Kingdom. For this reason, she writes, the name British Isles
is avoided in Hiberno-English as such usage could be construed to imply continued territorial claims or political overlordship of the
Republic of Ireland by the United Kingdom.

To some, the dispute is partly semantic and the term is a value-free geographic one while, to others, it is a value-laden political one.
Proposed alternatives to renaming the British Isles to something more neutral include "Britain and Ireland", "Atlantic Archipelago,"
Anglo-Celtic Isles", the "British-Irish Isles" and the “Islands of the North Atlantic.” The Government of Ireland does not recognise
or use the term and its embassy in London discourages its use. As a result, Britain and Ireland is used as an alternative description,
and Atlantic Archipelago has had limited use among a minority in academia, while British Isles is still commonly employed.

I would appreciate comments from other members by e-mail or post before I make any changes, or simply continue as usual. I
prefer “Atlantic Archipelago” myself, post-Brexit. Dearscnaitheach
.
RIP: Scott Simons, Currabaha, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, an old friend of the Editor and of Pollinia, died 5 May 2016.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. ■

will be held from Saturday, February 11th to Friday,

February 17th 2017 at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo Japan. The
Festival began in 1991 and this will be our 27th year. We
plan to exhibit roughly 100,000 orchids; we expect
exhibitors and vendors from about twenty countries and you
will see many variety of orchids. In addition to orchids, non–
orchid plants will also be available in the sales area.

We look forward to seeing you at our orchid festival.

Schedule 2017: http://pollinia.org/schedule.pdf
Festival Guide: http://pollinia.org/guide.pdf

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 4 ]

DR KARL DUFFY - DUBLIN TO KWAZULU-NATAL

Using images and slides from his work in
Ireland for his PhD studies, more
tantalising ones from his post-doctoral
studies in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of
South Africa, and some of the sun-
drenched, volcanic Mount Etna or Greek
olives groves as he searches for more
evidence in understanding the invisible
interactions of the diminutive Spiranthes
spiralis.
If I were to bring only one thing away
from the talk it was the discussion on the
fundamental and the realised niche, the
former a theoretical one, the latter an
actual one. It was a pleasure to see a
larger audience than usual and
encouraging to hear such positive
feedback from both visitors and members.
BRENDAN SAYERS
Dr Karl J. Duffy
Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity
Conservation Section
Institute of Botany and Microbiology,
Kasteelpark Arenberg 31
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

During the talk we discovered the beauty

and intrigue of the African orchid flora
and whether it was, as Karl explained the
simplicities of the intra and intersexual
conflict between male and female gender
functions of the moth pollinated Satyrium
longicauda, or the Batesian mimicry used
by Disa pulchra to increase pollination by
growing in close proximity to W atsonia
lepida, one could only marvel at the
secret world in which orchids live. Dr. Karl Duffy
Disa pulchra

Satyrium longicauda
Dakenberg Mountains, South Africa

LECTURE TO IOS - 3 OCTOBER 2016

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [5 ]
 Rosalinda Luna talks about being a woman in agriculture and
the challenges of nurturing a fickle plant.
American agriculture looks
very different than it did a
century ago. Small and mid-
sized farms are practically
relics, eclipsed by large plots
built for mass production.

As the structure of farming has

changed, so have the people
who work in it. According to
the USDA, the number of
minority farmers has grown in
recent years. This
development was preceded by
agreements like the Bracero
program, which brought in
temporary agricultural workers
Rosalinda Luna at Matsui Nursery to the U.S. to meet labor
THE DELICATE ART OF shortages during WWII.
Before the government program’s shutdown in 1964 (due to allegations of exploitative
GROWING ORCHIDS labor conditions), it attracted more than 4.5 million Mexican nationals and changed
PROFESSIONALLY the demographics of farm workers in America.

Rosalinda Luna has worked in agriculture for over 11 years. Born in Mexico, she has
spent most of her life in the U.S. and is now an orchid grower at Matsui Nursery in
Salinas, California. I spoke to Luna about the stubbornness of orchids and the
challenges of being a female grower. A lightly edited transcript of our conversation
follows.

Valeria Pelet: What dr ew you to agr icultur e?

Rosalinda Luna: Being the eldest in my family, with a br other and four sister s, I
felt obligated to set an example for my siblings. It was difficult—but not impossible—
because I was trying to balance a full-time job, a husband, and two children. Another
reason I decided to study agriculture was because that’s what my parents dedicated
themselves to upon arriving in the U.S.

Pelet: How did you pr epar e for your car eer in or chid gr owing?

Luna: Two year s ago, I finally obtained my associate of science degr ee with an
emphasis in agriculture production. The summer before I graduated, I won a
scholarship from the USDA through Hartnell Community College. That scholarship
consisted of spending a week in Chicago, where, every year, one of the largest
agricultural conferences on a global scale takes place: United Fresh.

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 6 ]

This conference opened my eyes to just how vast the field of agriculture is and, more than anything, that the number of women [in
the field] was not high. In my classes, there were always only two to five women. Even so, I kept taking classes to get ready for
college and I got accepted. Before I matriculated for college though, my husband broke his foot and was immobile for a year. That
turned me into the sole provider for my family. I had to put my studies on hold.

Pelet: How did you get the job at Matsui Nur ser y?

Luna: Six months after my husband’s injury, I visited the company. I visited Matsui Nursery when I graduated from school.
During the summer, there was a two-week-long course where we visited different agriculture companies. Matsui Nursery was one of
the companies we visited, and Teresa Matsui, the president of the company and the owner’s daughter, gave us a tour with the grower.
There were 25 students, but it seemed like I was the one asking questions about PH levels, all of those things. I think that that’s what
caught Mrs. Teresa’s attention.

At Matsui Nursery, the majority of supervisors, who have

been with the company for almost thirty years, are men. I
think that Teresa wanted to hire a woman, because
everything was managed by men. When the visit ended, she
gave me her card and told me that she was interested in
chatting more with me. We talked after that visit, and she
told me that she would very much like for me to learn more
about the work at Matsui Nursery. She was giving me the
opportunity to work a half-week here and a half-week at
Sakata.

I talked to my boss at Sakata, where I had been working for

nearly 10 years, and because he didn’t want to lose me
completely, he told me that he was willing to let me split
my time between both places. But before I made my
decision, I remembered the saying, “He who serves two
masters ends up disappointing one of them.” So I decided to
take the great opportunity Teresa was giving me to learn
from Mr. Arcadio, the main orchid grower who’s been
growing orchids for more than 40 years.

I’m not going to deny that I was very scared because I had left Sakata before to work at another greenhouse. The management at that
greenhouse were all male, and I ended up quitting. I was afraid the same thing could happen at Matsui. At first, there some who
didn’t accept me. It was difficult, but in the end I was able to win over everyone. I understood that my chances of going to college
now are a bit more slim, but, at the same time, another door opened because everything I have learned and hope to keep learning
would not have happened anywhere else.

Pelet: What does the gr owing pr ocess of or chids involve?

Luna: When I ar r ive in the mor ning, the fir st thing I do is talk to the spr ayer s to agr ee on what chemicals will be applied to
the orchids that day and in which houses they will be applied. Then, I walk through the whole greenhouse, which is about 70 acres,
to see which plants need water, what type of fertilizer they need depending on how they look, or if they need another nutrient. This
happens until about 10 a.m. Then, from 10 a.m. to noon, I’ll take another walkthrough, looking at how people are working and if the
job is being done well. I’ll do another walkthrough after lunch to review all the greenhouses, whether they are all similarly leveled,

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [7 ]

the windows, or go into the houses and check if they’re at the right temperature—since if the temperature is too low, that could cause
all the plants to freeze.

Pelet: What is the most impor tant quality in a gr ower ?

Luna: I think passion is impor tant, because the wor k of a gr ower can sometimes be quite uncomfor table. These days, the
majority of people want a job that’s indoors, since the weather can be very hot or very cold. That’s why, by being passionate for
what you want to do, you won’t care about having to endure different types of climate.

Pelet: How do you adapt to gr owing differ ent types of plants?

Luna: I’d never worked with orchids, so it’s been a learning experience for me. And there are so many different kinds of orchids. In
the beginning, it was a little hard. These plants make you focus more; they’re very
delicate.

VALERIA PELET
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY

NATURE’S GARDENERS
Ants Protecting Their Turf

Suburban home owners know that one way to stay on good terms with the neighbors is to keep the yard tidy, in particular making
sure to prune overhanging tree branches that could bother the neighbours next door.

A species of ant on the savannas of East Africa, it turns out, takes the same approach. But for the ants it's more than just the right
thing to do: it's a question of survival. They have some pretty tough neighbours.

The ant, Crematogaster nigriceps, is one of four species that live inside bulblike growths in the whistling thorn, a type of small
acacia. Each tree is occupied by a single species, and the problem for C. nigriceps is that if the branches of the tree it is living in are
in contact with others occupied by a different type of ant, it will be subject to attack.

Not being particularly adept at fighting, C. nigriceps usually ends up being evicted from its
own tree. So the ant, as a research team led by scientists at the University of California at
Davis shows in a study reported in the journal Nature, has adapted by becoming the master
gardener of the savannah. A colony carefully prunes its own tree, nipping off new growth so
that the tree does not spread out and contact others. The researchers noted that the ants are
selective pruners: they don't waste energy trimming a side of the tree that faces open space.

NEW YORK TIMES

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 8 ]

GASTRODIA KUROSHIMENSIS

On the Japanese island of Kuroshima, a scientist has discovered a This unique reproductive strategy may be a product of the
new species of plant that does not use photosynthesis to derive its environment the plant inhabits, he adds. Since the low-light
nutrition. It steals nutrients from fungi instead. environment of mycoheterotrophic plants is usually unsuitable
for common insect pollinators, obligate self-pollination may be
The plant has another peculiar character: its flowers never bloom. an evolutionary response that ensures reproductive success when
pollinators are absent or limited, the study posits.
Researcher Kenji Suetsugu of Kobe
University chanced upon some 100 So far, the new plant G. kuroshimensis
individuals of the new plant in April has been found on three Japanese
2016, during a research trip in the islands — Kuroshima, Akusekijima and
lowland forests in Kuroshima. Yakushima.

Detailed examination of the plant CITATION:

revealed that it is a new member of
the genus Gastrodia, a rare group of Suetsugu K (2016) Gastrodia
mycoheterotrophic orchids that are kuroshimensis(Orchidaceae:
distributed in the temperate and Epidendroideae: Gastrodieae), a new
tropical forests of Asia, Oceania, mycoheterotrophic and complete
Madagascar and Africa. Suetsugu has cleistogamous plant from Japan.
named the new species Gastrodia Phytotaxa 278 (3): 265–272
kuroshimensis after the island on
which it was discovered.

The newly discovered orchid — like

most other mycoheterotrophic plants
— occurs in the dark understory of
forests where little light penetrates,
according to the new study published
in Phytotaxa. So instead of using
sunlight or photosynthesis to generate
nutrients, the plant parasitizes fungi in
the forest soil for its daily dose of
nutrition. Gastrodia kuroshimensis
Moreover, the plant produces dark greenish-brown flowers that
remain closed throughout the entire flowering period between
April and May. The plants rely completely on self-pollination
within closed buds instead.

Such obligate self-pollination, or “complete cleistogamy”, is

extremely rare, Suetsugu writes in the paper, but is relatively
common in the genus Gastrodia and has been observed in at least Gastrodia kuroshimensis
three other species: Gastrodia clausa, G. takeshimensis Suetsugu
and G. flexistyloides.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [9 ]

THE FOUR GENTLEMEN 四君子
The Four Gentlemen (四君子), also called the Four Noble Ones, in Chinese art refer to four plants: the plum (梅), the
orchid (蘭), the bamboo (竹), and the chrysanthemum (菊). The term matches the four plants with junzi, or "gentlemen"
in Confucianism. They are common subjects in traditional ink and wash painting, belonging to the category of bird-and-
flower painting in Chinese art.

Cymbidium Bamboo Chrysanthemum Plum

The Cymbidium orchid became an independent subject of Chinese painting during the Song dynasty (960–1279).

Artists created meticulous depictions of the orchid employing outline and color.

From the thirteenth century on, most scholar artists chose to paint the leaves and blossoms calligraphically, using only
ink. Following the Mongol conquest of the Song in 1279 and the founding of the Yuan dynasty, the "ink orchid" took on
strong overtones of loyalty to the fallen regime.

The subject also held appeal for certain groups that flourished at the margins of society. Monk artists belonging to the
Chan school of Buddhism, for example, appropriated the ink orchid for their own purposes during the fourteenth
century. Similarly, while the plant remained perennially popular among scholar artists, during the late Ming and early
Qing dynasties (16th - 17th centuries) the ink orchid also became a mainstay for a coterie of renowned courtesan
painters, many of whom formed romantic liaisons with prominent scholars of the time.

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 10 ]

Traditional Chinese Brush painting contains only
enough detail in order to recognize the subject and
its character. It's not necessary to "fill up" the whole
painting - white space is desirable.

The plum tree is renowned for bursting into a riot of

blossoms in the dead of winter. Its subtle fragrance
spills forth at one of the coldest times of the year,
making it difficult to go unnoticed. Though neither
the plum tree nor its blossoms are very striking, they
manage to exude an otherworldly exquisiteness and
beautiful elegance during the desolation of winter.
The demeanor and character of the plum tree thereby
serves as a metaphor for inner beauty and humble
display under adverse conditions.

The orchid represents the spring. The beauty and

grace of the orchid is fragile in form, with no violent
tendencies. Like the plum blossom, its fragrance is
never overpowering, symbolizing humility and
nobility.
Cymbidium
The stalk of the bamboo is hollow, which came to
symbolize tolerance and open-mindedness.
Furthermore, the flexibility and strength of the
bamboo stalk also came to represent the human
values of cultivation and integrity in which one
yields but does not break.

The chrysanthemum blooms in the cold autumn air

and foretells the coming of winter, which symbolizes
the virtue to withstand all adversities. It was the
favorite flower of the great poet Tao Yuanming (陶
淵明, 365-427), a towering figure in Chinese literati
culture.

Orchid (蘭, lán) Chrysanthemum (菊, jú)

Bamboo (竹, zhú) Plum (梅, méi)
Cymbidium
四 (si)(four) + 君子 (junzi) (Gentleman)
THE EDITOR

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 11 ]

THE RAREST PLANT IN BRITAIN MAKES A GHOSTLY APPEARANCE
It comes. It goes. It's been declared dead. And yet, like any good ghost, it keeps coming back.

Y
ou look. It’s there. Then it’s not. Decades go by, and people are prowling the woods, eyes down, hunting for it—
crawling, searching, losing hope, and then, all of a sudden, there it is again! In a totally unexpected spot, far from the last
sighting, hiding in the dark, barely as tall as your thumb, leafless, probably the rarest plant in Great Britain. It's known as
the ghost orchid, and when it shows up, people go nuts.

I’m talking about plant people.

Let the twenty-somethings hunt for

Pokemon characters on their smartphones.

This is an older game of hide-and-seek;

just as obsessive and every bit as crazy.

How It All Began

It starts back in 1855, when a Mrs.
Anderson Smith (I see her in a full skirt,
edging her way down a steep dirt trail to a
silvery brook in Herefordshire, England)
catches sight of a teeny blossom. It’s
barely visible, shaded, hemmed in by ferns
and nettles. She leans over, plucks it,
doesn’t know what it is, and takes it to a
local plant lover, who tells her it’s
Epipogium aphyllum, a leafless orchid
(different, it should be noted, than the
Polyrrhiza lindenii featured in The Orchid
Thief). Something new in England, it’s
placed on exhibit—and then, just as
suddenly, disappears.
Ghost Epipogium aphyllum

“Rumour says it was accidently destroyed when the room in which it was exhibited was cleared,” the local paper reports.

The orchid stays missing. Twenty years pass. There’s a second sighting in a different plot of woods miles from the first, then another
20-year pause, then another sighting, and by the time World War I ends, the plant has a reputation for once-in-a-generation
appearances, sometimes in Scotland, then in England, then in Wales. Plant lovers wonder where it will turn up next and who’s
carrying its seeds. Flies? Bees? Birds? Nobody knows. (The seeds are very, very small. They wouldn’t be bird food.)

A Little Girl Gets Lucky

By 1926, so many people know about the ghost orchid, you can feel the hunt getting shrill. The Cardiff National Museum in Wales
has a diary written by avid plant hunter Eleanor Vachell, who breathlessly describes a May morning when an official at the British
Museum in London calls a friend of hers, Mr. Francis Druce. The official wants to know if anyone’s gotten wind of a new find - the
first in years.
The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 12 ]
 Druce, a local plant hunter, tells the museum that, yes, at this very moment, he’s got a fresh-
from-the-forest ghost orchid stem in his house—in a vase. He’d gotten it from a little girl
who’d found it on her own. The British Museum says, “Can we have a sample?” and quickly
recruits Druce to conduct a search. Druce calls our diarist, Vachell.

Game On!
“Excitement knew no bounds,’ Vachell wrote. “[A] taxi
was hurriedly summoned,” and the team walked into the
woods to see if they could find another blossom, but
wherever they looked - “though they spread out widely
in both directions” - they found nothing.

They needed the girl.

Asking around they found a “Mrs. I,” who answered her

door to say that, yes, she knew about the orchid (in fact,
she’d made a sketch of the plant, which she was very
happy to share with the museum), and she knew the girl.
She gave them her address.
Eleanor Vachell
The girl was in. What’s more, she had a second stem. It
was in plain view, sitting in a vase. Druce asked if she wanted to contribute her find to
science. I’m guessing he told her about how exciting it would be to share her find with the
British nation, but the girl -never named in the diary - said no. And kept saying no.
4DDrawing of the Ghost orchid
“In vain did Mr. Druce plead with her to part with it but she was adamant!” The stem was hers. She had no intention of sharing it.
(Apparently, even in 1926, a determined little girl could hold her own against equally determined adults. No parents are ever
mentioned.)

The girl was, however, willing to take the adults back to the woods to lead them to the very place where she’d made her discovery.

So back they went, Druce, Vachell, and the discoverer. Though they got down on their knees at the very spot where the blossoms
had appeared, though they rummaged and searched, and though a few days later Vachell went back and dug down to the rootlets to
see if any buds were coming up—the plant was done. There would be no more flowers. Game over. Chapter closed.

So There You Are!

There have been several chapters since. The orchid reappeared (in a different locale) in the 1950s, then again in the ‘80s, and most
recently - after a 23-year pause - in 2009. A plant hunter and motorbike company owner named Mark Jannink tracked down a single
specimen with just one small white flower on top.

It was only about six inches tall. “The plant was so unobtrusive,” said London’s Independent, “that it was invisible from a few yards
away. On spotting it, Jannink exclaimed: ‘Hello you - so there you are!’”

Jannink had been hunting for months, trying to narrow his search to a few likely spots, according to a museum account:

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 13 ]

 “...He researched all previous ‘Ghost Orchid’ discoveries -
their preferred habitat, time of flowering and weather
patterns - then staked out ten possible sites in the West
Midlands, visiting them every two weeks throughout the
summer of 2009, following the first cold winter for many
years. Finally in September, he discovered one small
specimen - causing great excitement amongst botanists, as
the Ghost Orchid had been declared officially extinct in
2005!”

Yup, it had been declared dead. But no more. The great

science writer Richard Fortey wrote recently that it’s just
extremely elusive, maybe the most elusive plant in Britain.

“Since the flowers blend almost perfectly with beech leaves

as a backdrop,” he says, it’s a double-ghost, nearly
transparent, and camouflaged to boot, with a mysterious
ability to leap great distances. “Nothing I have read explains
how a plant with such minute seeds can apparently jump so
dramatically from place to place. There is something almost
spooky about it,” Fortey writes.

And talk about spooky: It has no chlorophyll. Almost every

plant in the forest has green cells that photosynthesize and
turn sunshine and air into proteins and sugars. Not this little
guy. It clearly doesn’t need light; it grows in deep shade
where no other plants can grow. How it lives was a mystery
(turns out, it’s a parasite; it’s stealing energy from a fungus
below) but the best thing about it --- is that it persists.

For the last 150 years, it has taunted, flirted, hidden, played
dead. Mostly, it’s missing, and yet we’re getting used to the
idea that even when it gone, it’s always there. Or is about to
be.

And in a shrinking world, that’s nice to know.

ROBERT KRULWICH
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 14 ]

BEETLES FOUND IN AMBER POLLINATED ORCHIDS 20 MILLION YEARS AGO
New fossil evidence suggests that beetles were pollinating plants as far back as 20 million years ago.
Recently published in the journal
American Entomologist, the new study by
George Poinar Jr. from Oregon State
University describes beetles preserved in
fossilised amber with orchid pollen in
their mouths.
Pollination is crucial to the reproduction
of plants. Pollen grains produced in the
anther, the male part of a flower, must be
transferred to a stigma: the female part of
a flower, of a plant from the same
species. Central to this process are pollen
vectors, creatures which play a key role
in pollination by transporting the pollen
between the flowers. Insects are the most
common pollen vectors, with bees and
butterflies the ones most likely to spring
to mind, but certain beetles are also
known to pollinate plants.
“My paper points out that beetles may
play a more important role in pollinating
orchids than originally thought, and that
they have been doing so for some 20
An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach
million years,” said Poinar, in a press
release from the Entomological Society
of America.
Although it is already known that some
present day beetles use orchids for
nectar, no fossil evidence has ever been
found showing beetles pollinating
orchids in their evolutionary past. The
evidence presented by Poinar’s study is
therefore hugely significant.
The first specimen in the study was a
hidden-snout beetle discovered in amber
from the Dominican Republic. After
closer analysis, it was found the beetle
had pollinaria from an orchid known as
Cylindrocites browni attached to its
thorax. A second specimen, a toe-winged
beetle, was found in amber from Mexico.
This time, pollinaria from an orchid
described as A nnulites mexicana was
found attached to the beetle’s mouth
parts.
It is estimated that the beetle in
Dominican amber was alive between 20
and 45 million years ago, while the beetle
in Mexican amber is thought to date to
between 22 million and 26 million years
ago.
Curiously, the current day descendants of
the two beetles under study are not
among the species of beetle usually
associated with orchid pollination. No
modern day hidden-snout beetles have
been seen visiting orchid plants and no
toe-winged beetles have been seen with
pollinaria.
Poinar says that this doesn’t necessarily
mean the current-day toe-winged and
hidden-snout beetles aren’t involved in
pollination. Rather, it’s an anomaly that
could be explained by their secretive
behaviour, and the difficulty this leads to
when it comes to gathering data about
them.
“While no present-day cryptorhynchid
weevils or ptilodactyline beetles are
known to carry pollinaria, past and future
collections of these and other beetles
should be examined to search for
attached pollinaria,” Poinar said.
DARYL WORTHINGTON
“Orchids may have evolved
beneficial associations with a much
wider range of beetles and other
insects than we thought possible.”
Volume 15, Issue One [ 15 ]
THE ANNUAL IOS CHRISTMAS PARTY 5 DECEMBER 2016

Many members of the Society met for the final meeting of

2016. Lots of goodies filled both the food and raffle table, the
generosity of the festive season in strong evidence. A free raffle
was held for most items with almost everyone bringing home a
prize or two. A paid raffle was held for the beautiful oil painting
donated by James Donnelly at the encouragement of his mother
IOS member Mairead Donnelly. Tickets were sold on the night
and at the November meeting also. The painting was won by a
member not present on the night. Brendan Sayers tested those
who were in attendance on their knowledge of orchid events of
the past year along with some topical teasers. At meetings end
we were all smiling and ended the year with a chat and a laugh.

Best wishes to all for 2017!

BRENDAN SAYERS

Deirdre McGrane and Mary Bradshaw at the festive food

table.

The celebratory cake, lemon drizzle under the icing. IOS members Mary Flynn, Úna Breathnach
Thanks, Phillipa! and Laurie Best

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 16 ]

 Lisa Coffey and Tom Doran at the raffle table.

Phillipa Thomas with Pleione praecox behind the oil painting of

Laelia tenebrosa by James Donnelly. The painting was raffled off
on the night with proceeds to the IOS. Thanks, Mairead!

Mairead Donnelly and Deirdre McTiernan

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 17 ]

THE VANILLA REVOLUTION
Vanilla and spice next to bloom in Dutch greenhouses

Flowers more exotic than the humble tulip will soon flourish for the
first time in Dutch greenhouses after intensive research into growing
the capricious vanilla orchid to harvest one of the world's most
expensive spices.

In the middle of potato fields in a central Dutch rural town, scientists

from Wageningen University have for the past four years been
nurturing vanilla orchids. And their research has been deemed a
success.

"Based on our information, businesses believe vanilla is a plant with a

lot of potential for Dutch greenhouses and have decided to start
growing it," said researcher Filip van Noort.
University of Wageningen researcher Filip van Noort inspects vanilla
orchids.
How many orchids will be planted will be decided at the start of the
next growing season in the spring, and it will take at least three years before the first Dutch-grown vanilla hits the market.

In Bleiswijk, home to the ground-breaking research, vines from about 100 plants stretch metres high in hot, tropical greenhouses.
Hidden under fleshy, oval-shaped leaves are the buds, that will eventually become the vanilla pods so prised by chefs the world over.
"The challenge is to ensure the plants blossom and then to be able to pollinate them in a cost-effective way," said van Noort.

Black gold
Cultivation is hugely labour intensive. The orchid's flowers only last one day and must be pollinated by hand if they are to produce
fruit. So it was an apt challenge for the Dutch—renowned for their
green fingers and their expertise in greenhouse cultivation.

Cultivation of the vanilla orchid is hugely labour intensive as the

orchid's flowers only last one day and must be pollinated by hand if
they are to produce fruit

"A few years ago we were looking for new plants which could be
grown in Dutch greenhouses," explained van Noort.

The aim was to increase the variety of crops grown by Dutch farmers as
they search for improved profits.

Vanilla made sense. Currently the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar

holds a quasi-monopoly over world supply producing some 80 percent
of global vanilla bean stocks.

Vanilla is also the world's second most expensive spice, with prices climbing to 350 euros ($380) a kilo this month—compared with
60 euros in 2014

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 18 ]

"In the past the price was too low to be interesting. But today, with demand increasing, the prices are rising," said orchid expert Joris
Elstgeest.

The long, black vanilla pods, with their distinctive caramel and at times woody scent, have to be collected by hand from the vines
and then dried before being sold.

It is the sticky tiny black seeds scraped from inside the pods which are a baker's delight, lending an almost intoxicating flavour to
everything from cakes and ice-cream.

ALL ORGANIC
Originating from Mexico, the vanilla orchid was brought to Europe by Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus. But all attempts to
grow it in milder climates failed for lack of the type of bee which pollinated the flowers.

It was not until 1841 that someone on the island of Reunion figured out how to pollinate the flowers one-by-one.

That method finally paved the way towards large-scale production, with Madagascar proving the most effective of growers.

But even if prices fall and as other countries explore possible vanilla
crops, Dutch growers believe it will prove a good investment.

In past decades, synthetic vanilla flavourings were increasingly

adopted by the food industry. But with a return to all things authentic
and organic, the real stuff is making a welcome return.

Bleiswijk vanilla is wholly organic, say its Dutch growers, unlike in

Madagascar, they claim.

Half of Madagascar's vanilla is exported to Europe, and a third to the

United States. But clients say the quality has been slipping, with
producers harvesting the pods before they reach maturity to cash in
on the price boom.

Some Madagascans even speculate the vanilla industry is being used

as a front for the illegal trade in rosewood –- a sought-after product in
China.

The Dutch consortium behind the project says it has already received lots of interest from local high-end restaurants as well as food
companies.

The Netherlands is a global leader in the art of greenhouse growing with almost 10,000 hectares of this lowlands country set with
rows of glasshouses growing all kinds of flowers, fruits and vegetables—compared to just 1,900 hectares in France.
And researchers are already setting their sights on other spices.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 19 ]

"We've also got black pepper, which seems to be adapting well," said van Noort, adding indigo used to dye blue jeans was another
project.

And perhaps saffron—the world's most expensive spice derived from the saffron crocus—could be next to flourish here.

MAUDE BRULARD

ONLINE VIDEO

HOW TO POLLINATE VANILLA PLANIFOLIA, STEP BY STEP

http://bit.ly/2fNL5II

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 20 ]

 THE CHRISTMAS STAR ORCHID ANGRAECUM SESQUIPEDALE
When Charles Darwin was sent a specimen of the Madagascan Christmas star orchid in 1862, he predicted that since the nectar was
at the bottom of the long flower spur, a pollinator must exist with a tongue as long as the spur - 41 years later, such a moth was
discovered.

There are around 220 species in the genus Angraecum, with new species
being discovered recently in Madagascan forests. The genus name,
Angraecum, is derived from the Malayan word anggrek, which is used to
describe several species of epiphytic orchids. The specific epithet
sesquipedale comes from the Latin sesquipedalis, meaning ‘one and a
half feet’, in reference to the long flower spur.

The species was discovered by the aristocrat and keen botanist Louis
Marie Aubert du Petit Thouars (1758-1831) in eastern Madagascar,
where he had been exiled during the French Revolution. He returned to
France in 1802 with a large collection of plants, most of which he
donated to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Synonyms:
Aeranthes sesquipedalis (Thouars) Lindl., Macroplectrum sesquipedale (Thouars) Pfitzer, Angorchis sesquipedalis (Thouars)
Kuntze, Mystacidium sesquipedale (Thouars) Rolfe

Description:

Angraecum sesquipedale is an epiphytic orchid that can grow up to a metre high. It has two ranks of narrow, leathery leaves that are
two-lobed at the tip and measure 22-30cm long and 3cm wide. The thick roots are greyish and produced on the lower part of the
stem. The pale greenish flower stems emerge from between the upper leaves and have two to six flowers on stems that are shorter
than the leaves. The creamy white flowers are large, fleshy and star-like. The sepals and petals are pointed and between 7-9cm long.
The lip is concave, 6.5-8cm long, broad at the base, tapering to a long point and with a spur 30-35 cm long.

DARWIN AND THE CHRISTMAS STAR ORCHID

In January 1862, Darwin wrote in a letter to Joseph Hooker, who had sent him some orchids: ‘I have just received such a Box full
[…] with the astounding A ngraecum sesquipedalia [sic] with a nectary a foot long. Good Heavens what insect can suck it’. Later that
year, Darwin predicted that the long flower spur must have co-evolved with a pollinator moth with an equally long proboscis.
However, it was not until after his death, and 41 years after writing his letter to Hooker, that the pollinator was eventually discovered
- the Malagasy subspecies of the African hawkmoth – which was given the scientific name X anthopan morganii praedicta in honour
of Darwin’s prediction. Although Darwin predicted ‘a moth’ as the pollinator, it was Alfred Russel Wallace who went one further
and predicted the pollinator would be a hawkmoth. Some argue that the name praedicta actually refers to Wallace’s prediction rather
than Darwin’s.

Angraecum sesquipedale is not the only species in the genus with a unique pollinator. Recently, a group of scientists, including one
from Kew, discovered the first known instance of a cricket as a pollinator of a related species – Angraecum cadetti from Mauritius
and Réunion.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 21 ]

FROM TANZANIA TO MADEIRA
On a recent visit to Jardim Botanico, Funchal, Madeira, we had no great hope of any
finding orchids in flower on 26th September.

However, in the open-air orchid section - no need for greenhouses in the

Madeiran climate - we found some Neobenthamia gracilis.

On first encounter this plant resembles a half-open white allium but, on

closer inspection all the characteristics of an orchid flower are in
evidence.

On returning to base, I consulted, as usual, The Illustrated Encyclopedia

of Orchids edited by Alec Pridgeon. He tells us that this is the second
genus named for George Bentham, an English botanist. This is a curious
African genus containing a single species of terrestrial or lithophytic orchid. The
plants look like a tropical grass, with a long reedy stem and many narrow leaves, until
they produce a terminal inflorescence at a height of a metre of more.

The specimen we saw was about .5 of a metre. The flowers are borne in a dense cluster, white or pale lilac with many small purplish
dots on the lip. Plants are easily maintained in a well-lit greenhouse with intermediate temperatures and plenty of moisture at the
roots. They are easily propagated from the keikis which form at the nodes along the old inflorescences. Rather difficult to flower
unless they are brought into strong light during the warmest season.

Neobenthamia gracilis is the only species in the genus and seems to be restricted to Tanzania where it grows on cliffs and sloping
rock faces in warm and humid sites. The attractive inflorescences last well when cut, but the white flowers may become badly
marked in a humid greenhouse.
MARY BRADSHAW

MASSIVE FIRE DEVASTATES PARTS OF MADEIRA

On 8 August 2 016, a massive fire swept through Madeira. Recent visitors to the garden Mary described above have written:

The recent fires reached the edge of this garden and have closed the cable car - but go and support them. It's
easily reached by no 31 and 31a bus - stop just down from the front entrance to the market. There are great
views of Funchal and lovely tropical plants and palms to enjoy. The cafe is the only unloved bit - a bit tired and
uninspiring. But a good half day trip including the bus rides.

Visited November 2016

Although the Botanical Gardens suffered badly, earlier this year, in the 2 day fire which engulfed parts of
Madeira, they are still well worth visiting. A lot of work has been done and is ongoing to restore the gardens to
their former glory. Some of the views from the gardens are quite spectacular, in particular it is very pleasant to

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 22 ]

 to sit on the terrace of the parks cafe with either a coffee or beer and look down on the views of Funchal below.
From another vantage point their is a spectacular view of an elevated section of Motorway standing on 2 or 3
pillars several hundred feet above the gorge below.

As one would expect in a botanical garden there is a wide range of interesting and varied plants to be seen, In
some areas of the gardens a number of the trees are showing fire damage, but a considerable amount of work
has been done to salvage what can be saved and to clear out and replant those areas which could not.
NOTE: The images below are NOT of the garden Mary visited; however, this garden is only an eight minute walk distant.

“A collection of 50,000 orchids was destroyed on 8 August 2016 by fires which also damaged over 200 houses in Madeira. The
Jardim Orquídea in Funchal dates back 110 years and had been maintained over four generations of the Pregetter family. It was
considered to be one of the largest private collections in the world, with many of the specimens extinct elsewhere. Only 2,000 plants
are thought to be recoverable and the future of the garden remains uncertain.”■

ON THE COVER

Caladenia multiclavia Rchb.f. 1871 – Lazy Spider Orchid

Common Name: The Many Tailed Caladenia - The Lazy Spider Orchid

Flower Size 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm]

Found in southwestern Western Australia in she-oak thickets (Allocasuarina) on slopes above streams and in woodlands and
around granite outcrops at elevations around 150 to 300 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold growing terrestrial with a single,
linear, pubescent leaf that blooms in the late winter and early spring on an erect, 4 to 10" [10 to 25 cm] long, 1 to 2 flowered
inflorescence and carrying reclining flowers.

Synonyms: Caladenia multiclavia var. brevicuspis Benth. 1873; Calonema multiclavium (Rchb.f.) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. 2001;
Calonemorchis multiclavia (Rchb.f.) D.L.Jones & M.A.Clem. 2002; Jonesiopsis multiclavia (Rchb.f.) Szlach. 2001.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 23 ]

HOW A RARE DARWIN SKETCH FINALLY GOT PUBLISHED AFTER 183 YEARS
In 1833, a little more than a quarter-century before publishing On the Origin of Species, with the Beagle at anchor off the treeless
shores of Port Desire, southern Argentina, Charles Darwin sat down and drew a flower. Just one flower, a not very good specimen
of Gavilea patagonica, the foot-high orchid of temperate grassland that’s a favorite fodder of the guanaco, the local cousin of the
llama. First, he blocked out the labellum, at the flower’s procreational business end, with a heavy, thoughtful pencil line; next, with a
lighter touch, he sketched the six streaky floral segments that surrounded it. It couldn’t have taken him more than a few minutes.
Then he attached the pressed flower to his sketch, signed his name and stored it ready to send back to England.

More than 180 years later, his sketch is about to be published for the first time, in
Plant, a weighty new book that collects botanical art of all kinds, from a Minoan
fresco of swallows billing among ocher red Lilium chalecondicum, painted circa
1600 B.C., to a hand-colored image from a scanning electron microscope of the
seed of an alpine pincushion flower, its plum-colored skirts floating like a
ballerina mid-jeté. These are things of beauty, but they have a purpose beyond
decoration. When Darwin took out his pencil, he didn’t want just to draw the
orchid. He wanted to know it. “Drawing is a very important way for a botanist to
feel their way into a plant,” says the British orchidoloist Dr. Phillip Cribb, who
found the Darwin sketch 25 years ago, laid flat and shielded by sheets of
protective paper, among the 7.5 million pressed and dried plant specimens stored
by the Royal Botanic Gardens in its herbarium in Kew, London. Cribb describes
the fireproof metal cabinets that line the herbarium as a “giant card index for
identifying plants.” The sketch’s scientific utility is one reason he wouldn’t let
Kew’s librarian remove it, “the kind of drawing I would do in a rush, in the
field.” Another might be a sense of brotherhood: “Botanists tend to be very fond
of Darwin: Orchids were a passion for him.”

Kew’s curator of art eventually brought the

sketch to the attention of Plant ’s editors, but
they don’t confine themselves to the strictly
scientific. A 17th-century copperplate
engraving of an eyed garden poppy shows
its several stages of development from tight-
budded promise to fully open, feathery
glory. It is printed opposite an Irving Penn
photograph from 1968 of a dying stem of
Oriental poppy, its drooped, tissue-paper head bowing to the inevitable. Cribb, who says the
specimen papers in the herbarium are filled with drawings from generations of botanists,
annotating and counter-annotating in an argument expressed entirely in pencil lead, approves.
“A really good artist,” he says, “often sees things a botanist misses. We look at a plant thinking
we know what to expect; they look at it with their eyes open.

Plant: Exploring the Botanical World is published by Phaidon, £40 ($51)

ISABEL LLOYD
NEWSWEEK
The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 24 ]
AMESIELLA

One of the most amazing orchid genera, to be found in the

Philippines, is the genus A mesiella. The reason for this is the
size of the flowers, in relation to the size of the plant, which
is most remarkable. The plant of an A mesiella species, and
there are three species to be found in the mountains of Luzon
and on the island of Mindoro, at the most would be about 10
centimeters across the leaves. When these plants are well
grown they can produce several inflorescences, which have
two to four blooms about five to six centimeters across the
petals or sepals. The leaves are very stiff and leathery, and
quite thick in A mesiella monticola and A mesiella
philippinensis. This genus is endemic to the Philippines and
found nowhere else on earth. It is also critically endangered
in the wild, due to habitat destruction and over-collection for
the nursery trade. Attempts should be made to grow the
various A mesiella species from seed in flasks, so as to take
the pressure off plants which are growing in the wild.

The genus was named in honor of the American botanist/

taxonomist Professor Oakes Ames (1874-1950), who named
many Philippine orchid species throughout his long and
illustrious career. Professor Ames was also a professor of
economic botany at Harvard University, and the founder of
the Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames at the Harvard
Botanical Museum.
Amesiella minor Senghas, was not named until 1999, and it
has the smallest flowers, and plant, in the genus at about five
centimeters across the petals, and the leaves of the plant. It
can also be the most floriferous of the three species.
Amesiella monticola Cootes & D. Banks, was named in 1998,
after the first author made a comprehensive study of this
species and A mesiella philippinensis, both in the wild and in
cultivation. The differences between the two species was
more than enough to separate them into two species.
Amesiella monticola has a much longer nectary (spur); the
flowers of A mesiella monticola are a minimum of six
centimeters across the lateral sepals; of an evening the
flowers of A mesiella monticola are sweetly fragrant, in an
attempt to lure its pollinator, which one would assume is a
moth.
Amesiella monticola (photo: Peter Lin)
Amesiella philippinensis (Ames) Garay, was first named in
1907, by Professor Oakes Ames, as Angraecum
philippinensis, from plants found on Mount Halcon, on the
island of Mindoro, to the south of Luzon. At a later date more
plants were found at high elevations in southern Luzon, and
again in the mountains of central Luzon.
It is quite amazing that there are no confirmed sightings of
this stunning species from either the islands of the Visayan
Sea, or the mountainous island of Mindanao. The authors
would be very happy to learn of this genus from the southern
Philippines.
IMPORTANT: It needs to be noted here, that this genus will
not grow, or prosper, let alone flower in the heat of the
lowlands of the Philippines, as these are plants from high
elevations. In their natural habitat the night time temperatures
can get as low as 10 degrees Celsius, and there is constant
cool, moisture laden air circulating around the plants. These
conditions cannot be provided naturally in the lowlands.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 25 ]

 References: Alrich P. & Higgins W. 2008. The Marie Selby Botanical
Gardens Illustrated Dictionary of Orchid Genera. Comstock Publishing
Associates.; Cootes J. 2011. Philippine Native Orchid Species. Katha
Publishing, Quezon City.

JIM COOTES

The fact that the colors in the flower have evolved in

order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting;
that means insects can see the colors. That adds a
question: does this aesthetic sense we have also exist
in lower forms of life?

Amesiella monticola ~Richard P. Feynman. Physicist

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The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 26 ]

DECODING BOTANICAL LATIN

BASIC BOTANICAL LATIN confounds beginning gardeners. The worst

part: worries about proper pronunciation. I only wish that someone had told
me 20 years earlier that any pronunciation was fine—and light-years better
than imprecise common names. Botanical Latin, it turns out, isn’t a real
language at all—it’s not the tongue of ancient Rome—but a system of
nomenclature (or naming) invented by Carl von Linne, also known as
Linnaeus, in 1753.

Ophrys lutea subsp. phryganae
How do you pronounce the words of a language that doesn’t belong to any
one nation or people, exactly? Any way you like. What’s important is that
you learn the words and let them help you to find the plant you really want.
As a bonus, certain botanical Latin words used to name various plants often
also reveal that plant’s characteristics. This is particularly true among the
species names, or “specific epithets,” the second word in each two-part (or
binomial) botanical name, which modifies the first word, the genus name.

What follows is a sampling, in each case expressed in the -us ending (-a and –um are also used when the gender of the subject being
modified is appropriate):

COLOR

Yellow may be expressed with flavus (a pale version), luteus or lutea, as in the charming Ophrys lutea, top photo, and citrinus
(lemon-colored).

Red is rubus; rosy-pink is roseus.

Purple is simple: just say purpureus. If it’s very dark, it might be atropurpureus.

White is albus; black is nigrum.

Silver is expressed as argenteus; gold is aureus.

As for good old green, when it’s noted it might be viridis (or sempervirens in the case of evergreen).

There are various words for blue, including azureus (a sky-blue color) and caeruleus (somewhat darker).

Variegated leaves or flowers are sometimes labeled variegatus, but might also be called pictus (which means painted, and is used to
indicate bright coloration of other kinds, too).

GROWTH HABIT

If a plant is graceful or slender, it might be designated gracilis. If it is globe-shaped, globosus might be more appropriate. A pyramid,
not surprisingly, is often expressed by pyramidalis.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 27 ]

A shrubby plant might be labeled fructicosus or frutescens. Upright and columnar? Look for the words fastigiatus or columnaris.
Downright narrow, with nearly parallel sides: linearis.

A dwarf plant might be nanus or pumilus; a creeping one, repens; one flat on the ground, prostratus or procumbens. If they spread in
a straggly manner, the specific epithet divaricatus is a possibility. If instead the plant climbs, it could be called scandens.

SURFACE TEXTURE OR PATTERN

Pleated leaves might be indicated by the word plicatus. Woolly ones are often labeled lanatus.

Mollis means soft (because the plant is covered with soft hairs); glaucus plants are coated in what’s called bloom (a fine white
powdery coating).

If the surface glistens, it could be called fulgens. If it’s spiny, spinosus is a more appropriate epithet.

Spots might indicated by the word punctatus.

FRAGRANCE

Inodorus means a plant has no fragrance. Aromaticus and fragans mean that it does. But so do pungens (pungent), odoratus (sweet-
smelling), and foetidus (fetid, or stinking).

BLOOM TIMES

Some epithets, such as praecox, mean simply early. Spring interest is expressed by vernalis; summer by aestivalis; fall by
autumnalis, and winter by hyemalis.

HABITAT OF ORIGIN

Plants from wet places are often called palustris (or aquaticus, if they actually live in water). Those from rocky areas may bear the
specific epithet saxatilis; if sand was in their background, arenarius is the word. Woodland denizens may be sylvaticus or sylvestris;
those from above the treeline are alpinus. ■

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 28 ]

RARE ORCHID REARS HEAD ONE YEAR AFTER BLAZE

An internationally-renowned plant conservation biologist has described the discovery of a rare orchid species near Albany, Western
Australia, this week as an exciting "needle in a haystack" find.

Professor Stephen Hopper, a Winthrop professor of biodiversity at UWA Albany, discovered and named Caladenia granitora, or
Granite spider orchid, in the 1980s.

It is listed as rare flora by the Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Until now, the spectacular species has only been recorded at two locations in the world, Professor Hopper said.

An Geimhreadh - An tEarrach Volume 15, Issue One [ 29 ]

This week, Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, 35km east of Albany,
joined Cheyne Beach, 68km east, and Manypeaks, 38km north-east,
on the list.

"I just felt really delighted that it turned out to be in a new place,"
Professor Hopper told ABC's Andrew Collins.

"[They are] the largest plant family in the world but some of these
things are so hard to find, you are lucky to see them in a lifetime.

"I would equate this orchid as pretty close to one of those."

The new granite spider orchid sighting was made almost a year after
a bushfire ripped through Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in
November last year.

After the blaze, Professor Hopper and a student found a few granite
spider orchid leaves on Mt Gardner.

"It wasn't flowering last year so we waited a year and we went out
this week," he said.

'Low and behold, it was this very rare species that was previously
only known from two other places.

"I felt a little bit like a father because I was the first Western …
scientist to see this thing in the 80s and subsequently gave it a
scientific name.

"Lots of people have been looking for this one for a long time.
Professor Hopper said the fire, which was sparked by lightning
strike, may hold a clue to the orchid's surprise appearance.
The rare granite spider orchid was found in a third location.
"It does flower without fire but the fire provides extra nutrient smoke (Photo by Professor Stephen Hopper)
for germination for a lot of native plants," he said.

"It's worth having a look after very rare fire events like this, because you're going to be surprised almost certainly.

"It's given us a few clues about where to look so we can explore other places."

An orchid hunt is planned for Torndirrup National Park, 10km south of Albany, which was scorched by bushfire about the same time
as Two Peoples Bay.

Professor Hopper said as well as extending the orchid's range, the rare flora find could help safeguard the species against extinction.

"It's in a nature reserve so it's secure and one extra bit of insurance again extinction," he said.

The Irish Orchid Society Winter - Spring January to June 2017 [ 30 ]

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HOLIDAY FOR ORCHID ENTHUSIASTS — ORCHIDS OF THAILAND TOUR

Next March enjoy a friendly group holiday with similar minded enthusiasts and discover: The orchids of Thailand
March 11th – 26th 2017

The tour is timed to coincide with the main flowering season of the wild orchids in Thailand and revolves around taking treks into
the jungle to see the orchids in their natural wild habitat when many of them will be in flower.

The treks we have selected are easy to negotiate and are the result of research over many years to areas where we knowyou will see
orchids growing. You will be taken to several different types of habitat at various altitudes and be able to observe the climatic
conditions and different species growing there. The treks are interspersed with visits to orchid farms, plant markets, botanical
gardens and some interesting local cultural attractions. Along with the opportunity of excellent shopping and the renowned cuisine- it
all adds up to an exciting orchid-themed holiday.

The tour begins on March 11th and is divided into two parts. The first part concentrates on the orchids and attractions to be found in
the area around Chiang Mai which is the ancient northern capital of Thailand - and the second part will take you to visit some of the
orchid habitats in the more remote eastern part of the country. You can join us for either the first or second part of the tour - or for
the whole tour.

You will be met at the airport on arrival and escorted throughout the tour. Your guide will be Peter Williams who established his
own 'CITES' registered orchid nursery in Thailand in 1990 and has written many articles on the orchids of Thailand for leading
botanical publications.

Please read IOS Member Peter Stiller’s account of this tour last year: http://pollinia.org/july2015/articles/19-21.pdf
Complete information is available at: http://pollinia.org/Tour2017.pdf
A slide show of a typical tour showing the areas to be explored and some of the species to be seen in flower may be viewed on our
web site: http://www.theorchidman.com

For a wide range of unusual species and popular hybrids please ask for our new colour brochure. Order online on our website.
For an even wider and more up to date list of plants, books, gifts, etc., please visit our website: http://www.orchids.uk.com We
will be pleased to ship to Ireland; contact us for a quote or get together with your orchid friends to share the cost of delivery.

We are pleased to be regular visitors to the

Dublin Orchid Fair - 22nd & 23rd April 2017
Forches Cross, Newton Abbot, Devon, England, TQ12 6PZ.
Prosthechea prismatocarpa Tel: +44 1626 352233 mail@orchids.uk.com

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POLLINIA
Volume 15, Issue One

03 Calendar 21 Angraecum sesquipedale

04 Editor’s Notes 22 Tanzania to Madeira
05 Dr Karl Duffy Lecture 24 Lost Darwin Sketch
06 Rosalinda Luna 25 Amesiella
10 The Four Gentlemen 27 Decoding Botanical Latin
12 British Ghost Orchid 29 Caladenia granitora
15 Beetle in Amber 31 Advertisements
16 IOS Christmas Party
18 Growing Vanilla in the NL R Cover: Angraecum sesquipedale