Thought I'd start an interesting facts thread if people would like to add. Here are mine:

-flask germination of seedlings was first done around the beginning of the 20th century. The mycorrhiza needed for germination was isolated and seeds were sown with it in flask. It was only later that nutrients in the media replaced the mycorrhiza and flasking was done aseptically.

-The first tropical orchid to flower in England was Encyclia cochleata in 1787 at Kew

Source: Rittershausen, W. "Orchid Growing in the United Kingdom." In Proceedings of the Eleventh World Orchid Conference, edited by Kiat W. Tan, 294-98. Singapore: International Press Co Ltd., 1985.

--Stephen

Cool idea.

Susan Taylor, orchids editor for BellaOnlin.com, is asking for facts like this. I will point her to this forum thread.

Hrm I have read in another article a contradiction as to the first tropical orchid to flower in England:

-"The first tropical orchid known to have flowered in England was imported by the Quaker cloth merchant Peter Collinson in 1731 from New Providence in the Bahamas; he gave it to sir Charles Wagner, in whose garden it flowered next year." The orchid this refers to is Bletia purpurea

Source: Stearn, William T. "Two Thousand Years of Orchidology." In Proceedings of the Third World Orchid Conference, London 1960, 26-42. London: Royal Horticultural Society, 1960.

I can't say for sure which is correct, but this article is far more thorough than the first.

--Stephen

Yes, cool and most interesting idea. :D

In a different vein, are X-rays harmful to orchids (especially apical meristems) ? They receive some (or a lot ?) when travelling by air at the airports.

Thanks in advance.

>>>Chun

Hey Chun, aren't X rays bad of just about any living thing?! I hate going to the dentist and he says, "hey let's take some X rays! Here, put on this lead jacket." No thanks!

OK, here’s an interesting factoid: the northernmost naturally occuring epiphytic orchid species (drum roll), and the winner is Dendrobium moniliforme of Japan. Its northernmost habitat is in a place called Matsushima, in the southern Tohoku Region of northern Honshu, Miyagi Prefecture at about 38 degrees north latitude (about the same as Washington, D.C.). It has been given the local common name “iwatake” meaning “rock bamboo”, presumably because it is found growing on rocks and looks like a little bamboo. Currently it is quite uncommon in this area.

Matsushima (“pine islands”) is famous for its beauty in Japan due to the fact that Matsushima Bay is strewn with over 200 pine covered islands. Here’s a site in case you’d like a closer look:

http://www.miyagitheme.jp/cd/main_data/area_db_e/ad_matsushima/ad001_matsushima/

Tom

New interesting fact:

Paphiopedilum supardii was officially described in 1985 by Braem & Loeb. However, James Asher found an herbarium specimen from 1915 matching the description at the Herbarium Bogorensis in Bogor, West Java. It was from a plant that was probably in cultivation in the Bogor Botanical Garden. Whoever prepared the specimen thought it represented a rothschildianum hybrid.

Source: Asher, J.H. Jr. "Notes on the Genus Paphiopedilum. II. Paphiopedilum Supardii Braem and Loeb, Spec. Nov.. A New Indonesian Species from Borneo." Orchid Digest 50, no. 6 (Nov/Dec 1986): 209-16.

--Stephen

Some more trivia

Australia has the only known two species of underground growing and flowering orchids. They are Rhizanthella gardneri from the west coast of Australia - link to articles http://members.iinet.net.au/~emntee/Rhizanthella_gardnerii1.htm
and Rhizanthella slateri from the east coast of Australia.

I believe we also have the most southerly growing epiphyte. It grows in Tasmania and is called Sarcochilus australis.

Cheers
Stephan