Paph. hennisianum in situ

[Spaph]

I just got back from a trip to the Philippines where I was blessed with the opportunity to do two hikes into the mountains to see orchids growing in situ- a childhood dream finally come true.

On the second hike I got to see Paph. hennisianum growing in situ.

The habitat was on the top of a ridge at about 800 meters where no big trees seemed to grow, just small shrub like trees. On one side of the hill there was pretty good light and on the other side of the hill there was way more shade. The paph loved either side of the hill with around 200 plants in total- a mix of specimen plants, single growth mature plants and all kinds of seedlings mixed in between. Plants on the sunnier side were stronger looking and this was the only side where plants got over 5 growths large. The air movement was incredible... I am getting another fan for my greenhouse to improve circulation! : )

As for medium... the top of the ground was dry and all paphs were growing on a slope so their leaves could dry out if rained on. The medium was a hard soil... but was moist under the top dry layer.

Truly an amazing experience I will never forget it... hopefully this special spot never gets disturbed and found by collectors. It is truly a marvel of nature... if only I was there a month later to see all the flowers open at the same time! I hope you all enjoy the pics.

The last pic is of what appears to be an albino form with no pigment. I only noticed it after going through all the pictures I took! Such an exciting find!

Habitat

Growing medium

Plant size

Albino plant

 

[reivilos]

Thanks for the pics! !!

 

[Ozpaph]

sounds great and thank-you for the very interesting observations.
Can you quantitate the light a bit better ie cast weak shadow or no shadow or just read newspaper etc?
Did the roots grow on or in the hard soil?
thanks

 

[SlipperKing]

Wow, so dark green with prefect leaves. Very nice tour you and us.

 

[Trithor]

Fantastic series of pictures! Thank you for taking the time and effort to post them.
(It is a pity we don't have a dedicated post division to post all these great in-situ threads and pictures in. It would be great to be able to just scroll around and look at all the various in-situ pictures posted by members)

 

[eggshells]

Great pcitures. We should come back on February. Check out the argus' as well.

 

[Spaph]

Thanks for the nice comments.

sounds great and thank-you for the very interesting observations.
Can you quantitate the light a bit better ie cast weak shadow or no shadow or just read newspaper etc?
Did the roots grow on or in the hard soil?
thanks

Ozpaph, the light levels on the sunnier side of the hill was perfect for reading a newspaper. Some spots were actually to bright that you would be squinting too much for reading.

On the darker side of the hill where the other half of the plants grew, 25% of the plants were in light that you could read a news paper, but the remaining 75% were in low light that would strain your eyes trying to read. So overall this species can take a very wide spectrum of light...but definitely growing largest in the more lit situations.

As for the medium, the roots were all deep in the soil medium. None were on top. The plants were very well rooted in the soil.

 

[NYEric]

A terrestrial orchid! Thanks for sharing.

 

[dodidoki]

Thanks for very interesting fotoes and very useful informations about willd habitat!!!

 

[Hera]

It doesn't appear that the typhoon affected that area. Good to know that they survived.

 

[Rick]

And generally better looking than what you typically see in cultivation.

 

[GuRu]

That's amazing, these plants look as if they were painted - no brownish or wilted leaves, no signs of any disease - just perfect. Thanks for sharing these photos with us.

 

[Ozpaph]

Thanks for the nice comments.




Ozpaph, the light levels on the sunnier side of the hill was perfect for reading a newspaper. Some spots were actually to bright that you would be squinting too much for reading.

On the darker side of the hill where the other half of the plants grew, 25% of the plants were in light that you could read a news paper, but the remaining 75% were in low light that would strain your eyes trying to read. So overall this species can take a very wide spectrum of light...but definitely growing largest in the more lit situations.

As for the medium, the roots were all deep in the soil medium. None were on top. The plants were very well rooted in the soil.

Thank-you very much

 

[Stone]

And generally better looking than what you typically see in cultivation.

Absolutely!

 

[Migrant13]

Yes thanks for sharing and providing pictures of the wild plants that most of us would otherwise never see.

 

[cxcanh]

Wow, supper.

 

[Trithor]

Stick to lettuce, it is more environmentally friendly

 

[Clark]

Any seedlings?

 

[Spaph]

Any seedlings?

Yes, many seedlings, this species was propagating very easily from seed. You almost could not step without a plant of various size being under foot- seedling, near blooming size, blooming size and specimen size. Something in the soil was allowing great germination of seeds!

 

[papheteer]

Wow. Those are some amazing photos! The plants do look spotless! I hope to one day see paphs in the Philippines too. The closest I have gotten was buying obviously freshly-dug argus from a roadside vendor in Baguio when I was in 6th grade. Thank you for sharing these with us!