Orchids in habitat

[CodPaph]

Oceoclades maculata

Campilocentrum rigidum

 

[SlipperFan]

Is Oceoclades a terrestrial?

 

[Rick]

I thought Oceoclades was originally from Africa, and has become invasive in the New World (even up into Florida).

It is a terrestrial

 

[Ron-NY]

Rick you are correct! I came across many of them in Belize while hiking.

 

[DukeBoxer]

Yeah, they grow like crazy in Costa Rica too, I think they are self fertile and don't need a fungus for the seed to germinate. I worked at a hotel on the other side of Rincon De La Vieja national park (http://www.buenavistalodgecr.com/index.html) and I once saw maybe 200 seedlings growing in a decaying log. Pretty crazy. I also swear I saw one in Ft Lauderdale FL on a layover coming back from Costa Rica, it was growing in one of the airport gardens underneath an evergreen shrub.

 

[CodPaph]

The Oceoclades maculata is native in all the Brazilian territory

 

[CodPaph]

Yes it is terrestrial

 

[TheLorax]

Had to go look that one up from some notes, I thought it sounded familiar. It is as CodPaph states, an exotic terrestrial orchid here in the US. Unfortunately there appear to be a few reports of Oceoclades maculata having naturalized in southern Florida as Rick indicated and I have seen it encroaching a native Cypress and Pine Forest there just a few years ago along with Schinus terebinthifolius (Brazilian Pepper), Lantana camara, and Momordica charantia. I suspect we'll be hearing more about this beautiful little prolific weed in the years to come if I stumbled upon it in south Florida and if DukeBoxer thought he saw it in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

 

[SlipperFan]

Yes it is terrestrial

Interesting. I have an Oeceoclades augustifolia, and by the looks of the leaves of the maculata, I wouldn't mind having one of those, also!

 

[Rick]

I had one for a couple of years. It flowered and set pods readily, and I found some seedlings popping up in pots adjacent to where I was keeping it. At that point I got tired of it and gave it all to a friend. It also seemed to be very attractive to fire flies when in bloom??

 

[NYEric]

It's interesting how some people seem determined to classify plants as invasive and make efforts to remove them when invading is how the "native" plants got there in the first place.

 

[SlipperFan]

I had one for a couple of years. It flowered and set pods readily, and I found some seedlings popping up in pots adjacent to where I was keeping it. At that point I got tired of it and gave it all to a friend. It also seemed to be very attractive to fire flies when in bloom??

Attractive to fire flies -- how cool is that!

 

[TheLorax]

It's interesting how some people seem determined to classify plants as invasive and make efforts to remove them when invading is how the "native" plants got there in the first place.

False statement oke:

 

[NYEric]

I knew that would get a rise out of you. I had this discussion w/ a former boss who said that Man's effect on the environment is un-natural. My argument is that: of course it's natural, it's what man does. Destructive, yes but natural - not unlike a typhoon.

 

[TheLorax]

Wish I could have lived up to your expectations. There are considerably worse out there far more deserving of getting everyone's juices flowing positively. Unfortunately, this isn't one that's going to elicit much more than a personal observation from me.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

This species can be found throughout much of south and central Florida these days. I first saw it in the remnants of an old hammock along Biscayne Bay in the early '80s. There still is quite a bit of debate about the plant's origin, although Africa seems the most likely candidate. Even more uncertain is the plant's status in the US: did it get to Florida by natural processes or was it brought here by humans? Even though it has been designated a pest species in Florida, this question has not been adequately answered. Here's a nifty little article by Chuck McCartney about some Florida orchids that all apparently have their origins in Africa, including this species.

 

[goldenrose]

WELCOME to the forum KyushuCalanthe! Do you live in Fla. or were you passing thru?

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

WELCOME to the forum KyushuCalanthe! Do you live in Fla. or were you passing thru?

I was passing through slowly - my first (and last) year at university at the University of Miami. At that time this species was confined to a few hammock forests in and around Miami. I saw it at Matheson Hammock, a county park that contains the largest piece of what was once a large subtropical hammock forest extending to the north even beyond the Miami River (which is now a nasty, dredged canal). I would love to have seen that area a hundred years ago!

 

[SlipperFan]

Welcome, KyushuCalanthe -- neat name, also.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Happy to be on board. In case you didn't realize, it's me, Tom Velardi.