Paphiopedilum ooii

[dodobaby]

Has anyone heard about this plant? Does anyone grow this plant?Has anyone some photo about this species?

[likespaphs]

Dr. Tanaka's site has some info:
http://www.orchid.or.jp/orchid/peopl...newpaph14.html
2 meter infloresence, wow.

[Paphgirl]

Also, Michael Ooi joined the forum last week, and he might be able to offer some insight.
It is a neat species, but we cannot yet grow it here in the US I think (someone please correct me if that is not the case!)

[Chun]

Originally Posted by Paphgirl

Also, Michael Ooi joined the forum last week, and he might be able to offer some insight.
It is a neat species, but we cannot yet grow it here in the US I think (someone please correct me if that is not the case!)

Fantastic...! A must-have for every serious Paph collector, when legally available !

[michaelooi]

Sorry, I have been traveling. There was news that my collectors have rediscovered Paphiopedilum lawrenceanum. This is exciting as I believe the last time this species were found was 40 years ago. Anyway, I am happy to say that we found these jewels and what a wonderful feeling.
Back to Paphiopedilum ooii – the first word I said when I saw this species was WOW. Two meter spike with twelve flowers, however the spike was broken and lots of damage to the flowers. My collectors told me that they have traveled three days and two nights into the jungle and were looking for Paphiopedilum volonteanum and found this plant. It was also about another day walking from the known habitat of Paphiopedilum rothschildianum. We took pictures of the spike and plants. Guess I was lucky because that weekend, I had the pleasure of joining Harold Koopowitz and friends for a trip to South Africa and to Madagascar. I did ask Harold if it is possible not to mention about the area where plant is was found. For I knew once “they� know of this new discovery, all will be collected. How true – for the known habitat of this wonderful species is now almost totally collected.
The other lucky thing could also be that during the time Paphiopedilum ooii was discovered, the “orchid scientists� were all in China and Vietnam.

I heard that there are more Paphiopedilum ooii in a certain country than in the place we found them. And for the record, I have NEVER sold a single plant to anybody.
Paph. Ooii are found about 3,500 feet above sea level and grows among very thick undergrowth. The growing condition is moist and shady. It has an extensive root system and has thick roots. And for this reason, many plants are damaged badly during the smuggling of this plant out of the country.
The sad thing is that most of the orchid nurseries in Malaysia are at sea level where the climate is too hot to grow many of our beautiful species, as most of them are found in the mountains. For this reason many such species has been killed out of ignorance. The temperature in our nursery is 24 C – 36 C and is way too warm to properly grow these species from the mountain. There are some wonderful Botanical Gardens in Kinabalu National Park, Sabah that houses many wonderfully grown paphiopedilum and these plants grow like weeds. It is such joy to visit these gardens.
What we are doing is growing our paphiopedilum ooii under very heavy shade and the first growing season is very hard for them. However, the second and third growth seems to be better and we to get them into good conditions and to bring them to the mountain to flower them and to get some seedpods. The other way is that we are propagating them by divisions and we are getting good results too.

In this illegal trading of species. It is sad as those who collect them, do not know anything about growing of plants, only that these plants can be sold. It cost them almost nothing and to them it ready does not matter if the plants die. If they come across these plants again during their next trips into the jungle, they will still collect them and hope to sell again. I have seen so many plants died because the buyers were not around when these plants were collected.

Will send photos soon

Michael OOI

[silence882]

Hello, thanks very much for the great explanation. Did you find lawrenceanum and ooii in Sarawak or Sabah?

--Stephen

[phragfan]

Very interesting. It does make one wonder about humanity sometimes...

[Chun]

Originally Posted by michaelooi

Will send photos soon

Thanks for sharing !

Cannot wait for the photos...!

<<<Chun

[bench72]

thank you for that michael.. i was both uplifted and saddened... it is good to hear about the rediscovery of lawrenceanum, what a joy it must have been to see them in the wild.... but what a pity about what is happening to the wild population of our orchid species... I guess i cannot judge as some of these collectors do it to keep their families fed... the buyers however.... there really should be more education for people of the harm they do by purchasing wild collected plants if they do not have the facility and know how to care for them properly! well there's my two cents...

thanks again for the explanation michael.

[michaelooi]

It was late and have to post the pictures today. Photos were taken by my dear friend Anthony Lamb and has kindly permit me to share it.
Enjoy!