Black and Blue..

          Orchid comes in many colour and shades..the most common ones are pink, purple, white, yellow or green, with some combination and various shades..Since orchid has entered our garden, two most desired colours that has been dreamed by many orchid growers are black and blue. Orchids with these colours were considered precious and rare. But was there really any  black or blue in orchids..?

           Orkid terdapat di dalam pelbagai warna, Yang selalu kita lihat ialah merah jambu, ungu, putih, kuning atau hijau. Warna-warna ini terdapat dalam berbagai tona dan kombinasi tertentu mengikut spesis mahupun hibrid. Sejak manusia mula mengenali orkid, dua warna yang paling diimpikan ialah biru dan hitam. Orkid yang mempunyai warna-warna ini akan sentiasa menjadi buruan. Tetapi adakah ia betul-betul biru tulen atau hitam pekat?

            The truth is there's no such thing as a true blue orchid orchid!.Orchids simply don't have the genetics to produce a blue pigment. Orchids with the 'blue' tone usually were called 'coerulea'. Theres some Phalaenopsis for sale that had been dyed blue, but if they rebloomed they'd have been white orchids, and looking at the roots you could see where they'd been watered or injected through their stem with a blue dye! Some of the more bluish purples are sometimes described as "blue,". The closest you'll find to a blue orchid is Vanda coerulea anda few terrestrials orchids species from Australia that comes almost true blue..but close inspection they are not quite..there is always some shades of purple underneath..the lack of red hues makes the particular flower appear 'blue' or shall I say bluish purple..?

            Sebenarnya tak pernah wujud pun orkid biru tulen dan hitam pekat.Tumbuhan orkid sebenarnya tidak mempunyai kemampuan genetik untuk menghasilkan pigmen biru atau hitam. Baru-baru ini terdapat orkid Phalaenopsis biru tulen yang dijual di luar negara, tetapi ianya telah 'diwarnakan' dengan warna biru yang diserap melalui akar atau disuntik pada tangkai bunganya dengan pewarna. Sesetengah warna ungu kebiruan akan kelihatan seperti biru tulen. Antara spesis orkid yang hampir kepada warna biru tulen ialah Vanda coerulea, dan beberapa spesis orkid tanah Australia seperti Cyanicula atau Thelymitra. Walaupun birunya menyerlah, apabila dilihat secara dekat ia tidak 100% biru.  Mesti ada sedikit tona ungu yang kelihatan..kekurangan pigmen merah pada orkid yang sebenarnya berwarna ungu menyebabkan ia kelihatan kebiruan.

           You'll also never see a black orchid, for the same reason: orchids don't have the genes for a black pigment. There are dark-colored orchids that are almost black, such as certain Cymbidiums, but there's always a strong underlying hue.. Orchids create dark colors by having so much of another pigment that it darkens the flower. Orchid breeders are trying hard to create closer approximations of black, because a black orchid would be really cool! Some are even pretty close. But none are really black.

Maybe they'll someday make some genetically modified blue or black orchids. That's the only way I can think of to get a true blue or black. But alas, there's no such thing at present.

           Kita juga setakat ni tak ada lagi orkid yang hitam pekat..disebabkan hal yang sama seperti di atas. Orkid tak ada gen yang menghasilkan pigmen hitam tulen. Orkid kelihatan hitam disebabkan oleh konsentrasi pigmen berwarna coklat, ungu, atau merah hati yang banyak. Oleh itu ia kelihatan hitam, tetapi pemeriksaan secara dekat mendapati ianya adalah asal dari warna-warna yang disebutkan tadi. Sememangnya orkid yang berwarna hitam dan biru cuba dihasilkan  sehitam atau sebiru yang mungkin disebabkan oleh daya tarikannya yang tersendiri. Mungkih pada suatu hari akan terhasil orkid biru atau hitam tulen, tetapi buat masa sekarang kita kenalah tunggu..

          Walau bagaimanapun gambar-gambar di bawah ni merupakan contoh-contoh orkid yang dianggap berwarna 'hitam' dan 'biru'. Spesis dan juga hybrid.

           But anyway just to satisfy our imagination lets considered these are 'blue' and 'black' orchids Heres some samples both species and hybrids..

All the 'blacks'..

Cymbidium Ruby Valley 'Emperor'

Ctmds. Black-Magic 'Nosferatu'

Cymbidium Kiwi Baron 'New Horizon'

Dracula vampira 'negra'

Fdk. After-Dark 'Black-Diamond'

Paphiopedilum Astro Boy (Paph. Makuli x Paph. rothschildianum)

Paphiopedilum leucochilum

Maxillaria schunkeana

Paph. Krulls-black-shadow 'crystelle'

Paphiopedilum Stealth 'Black Dragon'

Paphiopedilum GauloisWssen-Goultenianum X Paph. rothschildianum

PaphiopedilumWssner Black Dream-WssnerFiredance X Paph. rothschildianum

Pleurothallis teaguei

 Catasetum Memoria Lum Hon

Actually you can really see their original colour on the lighter part of these 'black' flowers.

Dalam gambar-gambar ini memang dapat dilihat warna sebenar orkid-orkid 'hitam' ini terutamanya pada bahagian kelopak yang lebih cerah..

..and the 'blues'..

Cyanicula sericea

Cyanicula gemmata

Thelymitra ixiodes

Vanda coerulea

Thelymitra crinita

Thelymitra crinita

Disa graminifolia

Disa graminifolia

Disa longicornu

Dendrobium delicatulum

Dendrobium delicatulum

Dendrobium victoria-reginae

Dendrobium ceraula

Cleisocentron merrillianum

Lc. Wrigleyi

Zygonisia Roquebrune

Cattleya labiata coerulea 'laura'

Yonezawara Blue Star

Dendrobium Mingle's Sapphire

AOS judges describe “blue”  as a variety of descriptive colors such as lilac, rose blue, blue-lavender, lavender-blue, blue-violet, blue-purple or indigo blue

Nevertheless these so called black and blue orchids does look so mouth watering..! Simply stunning!

Walau bagaimanapun orkid-orkid biru dan hitam ini memang terliur la tengok..sungguh mengujakan..!

Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue? 

                                                                          - James Montgomery