My Orchids : Blooming Recently..

These are pictures of selected orchid blooms and with close-ups in my garden recently both species and hybrids

 Orkid spesis dan hybrid yang mekar baru-baru ini..

 Cattleya forbesii

 Bulbophyllum sanguineopunctatum

 Dendrobium farmeri

 Cattleya noID

Notylia barkeri

Lc. Wayndora x Cattleya Thospol spot

 Catasetum pileatum

 Epidendrum stamfordianum

 Blc. Memoria Tiang 'Pipop'

 Dendrobium Hybrid noID

Rsc. Yen Corona

 Dendrobium Hybrid noID

 Beauty is but a flower, which wrinkles will devour. 

                                                                                  - Thomas Nash

Alba..

         What is  'alba' in orchids? To those who is still new in orchid growing, the terms refers to the all white flower variants of the normally coloured orchids. A rare traits that can occur in every orchids.

         According to Ned Nash, populations of color variants, whether alba, coerulea, semi-alba, aquinii or whatever, are generally the result of population isolation and in-breeding. This would tend to make these populations exhibit some of the other traits that one might expect from in-breeding such as growing poorly, low fertility or other symptoms of weakness. This is not to say that all color variants are poor growers, of course. However, it does explain why there is probably not one common factor that would improve the culture of all alba types. Too, it does say that there is plenty of anecdotal information about albas, such as the fact that Paphiopedilum bellatulum var. alba was, until quite recently, considered one of the most difficult orchids to grow well. Cattleya guttata var. alba can be particularly sensitive to when it is repotted, as well as to the condition of its medium. If there was a generalization, it might be that the grower should simply be aware that albas, or other color variants, have the potential to be more finicky, and be accordingly observant of their behavior.

       It also says that albinism is an active phenomenon, i.e., some active genes need to supress the colors, not a simply passive 'absence' of colors! 

       
       So we can say that 'alba' orchids are very special in terms of their rarity. But if there's even less plants found with an alba type of flowers, they will be highly valued. There are 'alba' orchids that are easily found sold that has already been bred in mass such as Dendrobium purpureum, Cattleya intermedia, Dendrobium anosmum or Rhyncostylis gigantea, just to name a few, but when orchids that have never been found alba turns out to be in that variants be it in cultivation or found in wild, they will surely commanding a very high price.

       Orchids that have petals and sepals (mainly white with or without splash) but with coloured lips were known as semi-alba..this type also considered special..

       There are other terms that has the same meaning as 'alba' such as 'album', 'albescens' or 'virginalis'..

       So, thats a little bit info for you on 'alba' terms especially for newbies in orchids.. Not much. but at least for a better understanding rather than just knowing that alba means 'no colour' or 'white' !

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        Seringkali kita melihat ada nama-nama orkid yang mempunyai perkataan 'alba' dan ramai yang tahu bahawa secara umumnya ialah orkid yang 'tiada warna' ..Ini adalah varian yang jarang berlaku kepada jenis orkid yang biasanya berwarna..Bagi yang lama berkecimpung dalam bidang orkid ni sudah kenal..tetapi bagi yang baru mungkin ada yang masih kurang jelas berkenaan 'alba' ini..

        Menurut Ned Nash iaitu seorang ahli botani, populasi varian-varian warna orkid seperti 'alba, coerulea, semi-alba, aquinii dan lain-lain lagi, secara umumnya terjadi akibat keterasingan dan kacukan sesama sendiri dalam satu-satu populasi orkid. Hasil kacukan sebegini adakalanya boleh menyebabkan pokok orkid ini lebih sukar untuk tumbuh, tahap kesuburan yang rendah atau kelemahan-kelemahan lain yang berkaitan. Namun ini bukanlah untuk mengatakan bahawa semua varian warna ini mempunyai kadar pertumbuhan yang kurang baik, kerana bukan hanya satu faktor yang menentukan kadar kejayaan penanaman orkid 'alba' ini. Antara contoh ialah,  Paphiopedilum bellatulum var. alba kerana sehinggalah baru-baru ini dianggap antara yang paling sukar untuk tumbuh dengan baik. Begitu juga dengan Cattleya guttata var. alba yang lebih sensitif semasa penukaran pasu dan media penanamannya. Oleh itu berdasarkan pemerhatian boleh dikatakan bahawa setiap peminat orkid perlu menyedari yang 'alba' ataupun varian-varian warna lain ada 'ragam' berbanding dengan jenisnya yang normal.

        Dikatakan juga bahawa 'alba' adalah satu fenomena aktif, yakni ada beberapa gen aktif telah 'menghalang' warna asal dari muncul, bukan seperti yang selalu kita fahami iaitu kekurangan warna secara pasif !

        Jadi kita boleh katakan bahawa bunga 'alba'  ni adalah istimewa kerana jarang dilihat atau jarang berlaku bukan sahaja kepada orkid tetapi kepada tumbuhan mahupun haiwan termasuklah manusia!. Bagi orkid ia menjadi varian yang berharga.Semua jenis orkid berpotensi untuk menjadi 'alba'. Ada orkid jenis alba yang senang diperolehi seperti Dendrobium purpureum, Cattleya intermedia, Dendrobium anosmum atau Rhyncostylis gigantea, sekadar menyebut beberapa nama..manakala ada yang masih ditunggu variannya yang serba putih ini..Kalau ada yang dijumpai sudah pasti akan mencapai harga yang tinggi..

        Berkenaan dengan istilah 'semi-alba' pula merujuk kepada varian bunga yang sebahagian besarnya berwarna putih (atau ada sedikit 'calitan' tak kira lah terang ke, gelap ke) Selalunya bahagian 'lip' sahaja yang berwarna penuh atau sedikit. Senangnya 'separuh putih' lah..

        Selain 'alba' ada istilah lain yang digunakan untuk orkid yang membawa maksud yang sama iaitu 'album', 'albescens' dan 'virginalis'.

       Jadi inilah sedikit informasi berkaitan 'alba' untuk yang baru dengan orkid. Jadi 'alba' tu bukanlah maksudnya 'tiada warna' atau 'putih' semata-mata!

Alba Species..

Biasanya pada orkid 'alba' ini sama ada kesemuanya putih bersih ,
semuanya hijau atau pun kombinasi hijau dan putih
seperti seperti Euanthe Sanderiana ini..

Normally the 'alba' is all white, all green or combination of both..
like this Euanthe sanderiana.

Coelogyne cristata ini 'lip'nya putih bersih..

Bunga asalnya pun putih jugak tapi 'lip' bertompok kuning..

Even though this Coelogyne cristata's flower are already white

but the absence of yellow in the throat makes it the 'alba' variant.

Cattleya forbesii

Calanthe rubens, The normal flowers are pink..

Vanda Coerulea

The pure white like this one still commanding a very high price..

Laelia superbiens alba
formerly known as Schomburgkia superbiens

Paphiopedilum micranthum from China.

 Orchis simia (monkey orchid)

Paphiopedilum philippinense

A magnificent display of Dendrobium anosmum

Bulbophylum pectenveneris

Disa uniflora

Pahiopedilum malipoense

Masdevallia amabilis

Phaius tankervillae

Laelia purpurata

Some of the 'alba' hybrids...

 Paphiopedilum Maudiae.. The famous 'alba' paphs hybrid.

Lc. Canhamiana alba, ini antara hybrid lama yang sukar untuk dihasilkan semula sebab perlukan spesis Laelia purpurata var alba yang betul untuk di kacukkan dengan Cattleya mossiae alba. kalau silap pilih anak-anaknya nanti akan keluar macam-macam warna !.

Lc. Canhamiana alba, it is hard to a 'remake' of this alba variety, 'cause if you don't use the 'correct' Laelia purpurata alba (to cross with C. mossiae alba), the result will be lots of colorful plants! The 'correct' and the 'wrong' L purpurata alba are phenotipically albas (source: Silva, W. Cultivo de Orquídeas no Brasil, Editora Nobel, 1976)

Cattleya Sea Breeze (warneri alba x walkeriana alba)

Semi-alba variants : Species

Broughtonia sanguinea 

Cattleya amethystoglossa 

Cattleya percivalliana semi-alba Farah Diba

Pleione formosana 

Cattleya labiata

Cattleya maxima

Laelia purpurata

Sobralia macrantha



Some of the 'semi-alba' hybrids..

Lc. Chyong Guu Swan
(Lc. Wayndora x Lc. Persepolis)

 

Blc. Glenn Maidment 'Aranbeam'

 Phalaenopsis Pinlong Cardinal






'Alba' atau 'semi alba' pada saya semuanya cantik dengan cara tersendiri..Sesetengahnya mungkin lebih menarik daripada warna yang asal..apa-apa pun bergantung kepada citarasa masing-masing !

Both albas and semi albas stands out in their own right, I think some do look better than the normal ones, but that's a matter of taste and preference of course..!

“White covers a multitude of sins.” 

- Jonathan Milne

Night Visitor..

          Got this picture last night, while checking my orchids..a dragonfly ON orchid. None of all the other 'visitors' entry in this blog before were photograph directly on orchid flower, but this is incidentally rare circumstances considering dragonfly is a carnivorous insect. 

         The orchid is Bulbophyllum sanguinolentum just bloom 2 days ago..You can't see much detail of the flower because of the camera flash..

          The dragonfly is Orthetrum testaceum, the Orange Skimmer. This is one of the largest of the red dragonflies, length around 37mm, wingspan around 83mm. The mature males are red, the female is olive green or brown in colour. The males are often seen perched near ponds anddrains, flying every now and then. The female are seldom seen, and come to water only during mating and egg-laying when the males will guard her by hovering like a helicopter over her. Habitat in open areas around rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes. This is a common dragonfly species found in East and Southeast Asia like China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

        

         So this is male, because of the bright red colouration..looking at this dragonfly suddenly brings me back to my childhood memory..I used to catch this insect just for my amusement..poor little guy.. Growing up in rural area, radio and television was the only entertainment source..That day even television broadcasts in the late afternoon, so while waiting for it, what to do?..Outside of the house has a lot to offer for a curious little boy like me..even then how much of a child to think what is right what is wrong..There were a few methods that I've used to catch it, the easiest one was just using your hand, otherwise you can use a pole with a small plastic bag tied at the end, used that to trap the dragonflies from the top..or simply take an old rib of a single coconut leaf covered  the end with sticky adhesive used to trap a rat..What I do with the dragonflies when I caught it? Put it inside a clear plastic bag and just carry around..so then I can compare with my friends whose got the most, the largest or the prettiest one..If it got lucky, I just let it go after a while, but when they already goes limp, I feed them to my giant gourami inside a small pool outside the house..but that was a long time ago...Nowadays children won't do that anymore..they mainly stay inside watching the 'magic box'..

          Bila tengok pepatung ni teringat zaman kecil-kecil dulu..Dulu selalulah juga tangkap pepatung ni buat main-main..ada beberapa cara nak tangkap pepatung ni, Selalunya pakai tangan saja..kena slow-slow selalu tangkap bahagian ekornya dulu..Satu lagi cara, ambil sebatang kayu panjang, ikat hujungnya dengan plastik, buat seperti serkup..tak pun cari lidi kelapa, hujungnya tu letak la gam tikus..pasti lekat.. lepas tu mulalah cari 'mangsa'..Kalau dah dapat tu masukkan dalam beg plastik, kemudian boleh la banding ngan kawan-kawan siapa dapat paling banyak, paling besar atau paling cantik...Kalau pepatung tu nasib baik dan saya dah bosan saya lepaslah..tapi kalau dah lembik selalunya jadi makanan ikan kalui di dalam telaga..rasa bersalah adalah jugak..he..he..tapi masa kecil membesar di kampung, di zaman yang dapur pun masih pakai dapur kayu atau minyak tanah..paling hebat pun ada radio dan tv je (tv pun petang baru mula siaran)..di luar rumahlah ada macam-macam nak di'explore'..Budak zaman sekarang mana ada nak buat benda-benda macam tu..banyak duduk dalam rumah tengok TV saja..

Well that's a fragment of my childhood memory for you...

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, 

more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, 

the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see,

or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read. 

                                                                                       - Alice Walker