# Angraecum didieri



## naoki (Sep 16, 2017)

This is from spring 2017 Madagascar import by LOC. 

Measurements:
Spur: 11cm
Dorsal sepal: 35 x 9mm
Lateral sepal: 36 x 7mm
Petal: 35 x 5mm
Lip: 36 x 23mm
Ovary: 23mm
Stem to the base of ovary: 16mm
Leaf: 60x14mm
It has sessile-leaves (the base of the leaf wraps around the stem), so if I exclude the area which is wrapping around the stem, the length is about 46mm.

With the key of Cribb and Hermans "Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar", it does seem to key out to A. didieri. Overall, the measurements fit with the description except two aspects. Lip is supposed to be 23-32 x 12-15mm, but mine is 23mm wide. Leaf is supposed to be 6-10mm wide, but mine is wider at 14mm. So I still wonder about the id.




Angraecum didieri on Flickr




Angraecum didieri (plant) on Flickr




Angraecum didieri (lip) by Naoki Takebayashi, on Flickr




Angraecum didieri (ovary) on Flickr

This wide leaves look very different from what I used to have (from Oak Hill Gardens).



Angraecum didieri (leaves) on Flickr




Angraecum didieri (roots) on Flickr


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## mrhappyrotter (Sep 16, 2017)

I love this species so much!

For what it's worth, my plant is nice and mature with 3 growths, and the leaves on the largest growth are around 15 - 16 mm at their widest. And the flowers are variable in size, even on a given plant. Sometimes a growth will produce a "dinky" flower, sometimes it'll produce a giant flower. Same thing with flower count. Any given spike seems to produce 1 - 3 flowers.

I know there are a lot of similar looking species, but for what it's worth I think your plant is didieri, or at least if it's not, then mine is also probably mislabeled.


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## OrchidIsa (Sep 16, 2017)

If only mine could do something else than staying alive! I don't know what to do with this one to make it happy enough to bloom. 

Congrats!!! It is beautiful! :clap:


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## mrhappyrotter (Sep 16, 2017)

OrchidIsa said:


> If only mine could do something else than staying alive! I don't know what to do with this one to make it happy enough to bloom.
> 
> Congrats!!! It is beautiful! :clap:



Bright light and lots of water go a long way. They do best mounted. You might also have to buy a few different plants to get one of the really vigorous ones.


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## My Green Pets (Sep 16, 2017)

Pretty. I have seen a lot of these lately.


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## SlipperFan (Sep 16, 2017)

Looks like my dideri, which I understand does not necessarily mean a thing! 

You could check with Brenda at http://www.botanicaltd.com


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## JeanLux (Sep 18, 2017)

Beautiful large flower !!!! Jean


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## blondie (Sep 18, 2017)

Lovely bloom and plant I love the roots.


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## abax (Sep 19, 2017)

I love Angs and can't grow them worth a damn. This
flower is soooo lovely. I assume it enjoys coolish temps?


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## NYEric (Sep 20, 2017)

Nice, a good easy species with a nice fragrance, thanks for sharing.


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## naoki (Sep 20, 2017)

abax said:


> I love Angs and can't grow them worth a damn. This
> flower is soooo lovely. I assume it enjoys coolish temps?



Angela, this one is more of intermediate to warm.

Some people suspect that some of them circulated as A. didieri could be unintentional hybrids (because the ID is difficult). There is an article by Hermans in Orchids (June, 2017) about the related species, but I haven't gotten hold of it yet.


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## Happypaphy7 (Sep 21, 2017)

How do you like the scent?
I find it terrible. It could just be the one I had, but it had this very sharp unpleasant chemical scent that reminded me of the same smell of the antiseptic agent they use at a hospital. lol


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## naoki (Sep 21, 2017)

I happen to have 3 or 4 Angraecoids flowering simultaneously, and it is fun to compare the scent (I usually forget to check it until someone asks about it). They are very different, and I wonder if people can use them to distinguish species. A. didieri is probably the least favorite among the four. I wouldn't call it terrible, but I can see that some people might not like it. It reminds me of urinal balls. I'm not sure if these urinal balls exists/existed, but in Japan, people used to put them in urinal to override the pee smell (before flushing toilets).


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## Happypaphy7 (Sep 22, 2017)

Does it smell like moth balls (naphthalene)??
A. didieri is among the worst scent of anything I've smelled. 
That bad for me. lol


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## naoki (Sep 22, 2017)

It might have a touch of naphthalene smell, but I'm not sure.


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## Silverwhisp (Jan 8, 2019)

mrhappyrotter said:


> Bright light and lots of water go a long way. They do best mounted. You might also have to buy a few different plants to get one of the really vigorous ones.



What about winter? Do yours get a dry rest? 

I just inherited one from a friend, who couldn’t get it to bloom. I repotted it into straight charcoal, in a clear pot with extra holes on the sides.


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## naoki (Jan 8, 2019)

Silverwhisp said:


> What about winter? Do yours get a dry rest?
> 
> I just inherited one from a friend, who couldn’t get it to bloom. I repotted it into straight charcoal, in a clear pot with extra holes on the sides.



I don't particularly give a dry rest. There appears to be two morphologically different types, and the type specimen looks much more compact (leaf length of around 1.5-2cm) like this one. I think mine is the bigger type. I think this species can be from SW or E. Madagascar. SW is pretty dry, and E. is wet. From my understanding from this thread, the type comes from dry SW. Mine is probably from wet Eastern forests. So I'm not giving any dry rest.

In Madagascar, climatic zones run East-West (link to Wikipedia).




Madagascar map of Köppen climate classification by Ali Zifan, released under CC-BY-SA 4.0


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## Silverwhisp (Jan 8, 2019)

Naoki,

That’s very helpful. Thank you. 

The leaves on mine are more like 5 cm long, so if E., then I’ll treat it as wet growing.


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## NYEric (Jan 11, 2019)

Mine is flourishing mounted.


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## Silverwhisp (Jan 11, 2019)

Thanks, Eric. I don’t have the best luck with mounted plants, but if it doesn’t do anything this season, I’ll give it a go.


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