Oceania
Orchids
Darryl and Alison Smedley
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Notes on Bulbophyllum serra Schltr. By Darryl Smedley dsmedley@ozemail.com.au and Peter O'Byrne oberonia@mbox3.singnet.com.sg(This article originally appeared in The Orchadian Vol.12 No.12 June 1999) Bulbophyllum serra from Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya appears to be one of the less-commonly cultivated species in Australia from the Section Intervallatae. B.digoelense and B.caloglossum from New Guinea as well as B.longiscapum from Fiji are also in cultivation. No doubt there are other Australasian representatives of the section tucked away some where. Certainly some of the Asian members are about, such as B.cleistogamum and the spectacular and unique B.carunculatum. All the species are rare in collections, an unfortunate circumstance given that all are reliable flowerers in the right conditions. The section is frequently referred to as Sect. Dialeipanthe but Sect. Intervallatae has priority The section is characterised by producing a long, wiry inflorescence from which individual flowers open and close progressively, each lasting 7-10 days. An inflorescence remains in bloom for many months. The flowers open widely and all from the group carry a long pointed warty labellum variously yellow, pink, scarlet and dark red to almost black. In 1992 I (D.S) obtained seed of this species from the Australian Orchid Foundation Seed Bank. Regrettably it did not germinate. In 1994 I imported some flasks of B.serra from Wolfgang Bandisch, then at Sogeri Plateau PNG. The seedlings were raised and most were given to friends or sold. To my knowledge, the first of these seedlings flowered in the collection of Sid Batchelor, Baulkham Hills NSW, last November. These plants were grown in a controlled glasshouse with a winter minimum of 14° C and cooled to 30° C in summer. Two fans operating 24 hours per day constantly circulate the air. The plants grew to maturity in 80mm plastic pots in a seedling grade bark/pebble mix kept constantly moist. My seedlings have received somewhat less salubrious conditions and are not yet flowering size. Not long after the first flowering I was able to contact Wolfgang Bandisch in Germany by e-mail. He had left PNG a year or two before. I like to know the provenance of plants in my collection so I wanted to know what information was available about the history of my B.serra. Wolfgang replied that his plant was given to him by Peter O'Byrne. I e-mailed Peter and promptly received the following reply:  "Dear Darryl
Yes, I remember collecting that plant. I'll never, ever, forget it, 'cos I almost died on that day. I had set off from Port Moresby with a friend called David Court (a spider expert) to try and find the Iawaware Caves (sometimes also spelt Jawaware) in Central Province. The caves, about 40 km inland from Port Moresby, were once a tourist attraction, noted for their population of bats and creepy crawly cavey thingumijigs, but when "security" started to get bad, people stopped going, and the paths rapidly got overgrown. With the help of a local villager who said he could remember the route we eventually found the caves ... it took several hours of walking from the village, mostly through pristine (but fairly open) rainforest. When we got nearer the caves we were following a river, and that's where we started encountering lots and lots of orchids. As we got closer, the river bank turned into a ridge which rose steadily. Eventually we turned off the ridge, up and around a hill, and there were the caves. I found the parent of your B.serra about half an hour before the caves, at an estimated altitude of 400 m. A very large tree (basal diameter ~3 metres) had fallen a couple of years previously and was balanced like a seesaw on the edge of the ridge. Since the base (the heaviest bit) was on terra firma and seemed pretty well held down by overgrowing vines, I climbed out along the (horizontal) trunk, over the ridge edge, with the river some 15-20 metres below. The tree had a flourishing population of orchids on the "upper" side of the trunk, and a very large clump of B.serra was established in the remains of first fork, along with an Agrostophyllum species and a large healthy Dendrobium bifalce; all rooted in a very generous layer of humus with a growth of mosses and small ferns holding the whole thing together. There you have it; open canopy rainforest with good even lighting, (about 50-60% shade); over a river (steady high humidity); moderate rainfall through most of the year (only a short dry period in July-August); impeccable drainage with some residual moisture retention, and excellent, unimpeded ventilation. It reads like an orchid-growers manual for perfect growing conditions, doesn't it ? Temperatures; about 2-3 degrees cooler than Port Moresby, without the seasonal extreme highs.... a noon variation from 26 C (coldest) to 32 C (warmest) would do well. Almost dying ? Oh yes, well, maybe I exaggerated. I didn't feel nearly dead, but everyone who saw me was horrified at my condition. A few minutes before we reached the caves, on the final uphill haul, I stepped on a wasp's nest. I never had a chance; even the guide failed to spot it .... they are one of those species that build low mud structures on the ground, half-hidden below the layer of leaf litter. The nests look like small termite-mounds, just a few centimetres high. The wasps are small (maybe 2 cm long), beautiful metallic-iridescent blue. They are highly aggressive and sting like crazy. They hit me several times in the leg before I'd even figured out what was happening, then several times more before I managed to get out range. Half an hour later I was starting to swell up with an allergic reaction (never had one before .. really scary), and one hour after being stung, while we were going as fast as possible to get back to the village (and the cars), my face had swollen so much that my eyes had swelled shut, and I was getting what felt like heart palpitations. I survived the experience ..apparently most people survive the first one ... it's the second one that is really dangerous. What particularly impressed David (he dined out on this story for weeks afterwards) was that throughout the whole thing ... the initial wasp attack, the retreat from the nest, the ascent to the caves then the extremely hurried blind rush back to the village, I never once let go of the orchids I'd collected .... in fact, I didn't lose a single one ! Memorable, huh ? I remember the parent well; it was a curiosity rather than a beauty, with attractive vegetative growth but flowers not particularly remarkable. On the plus side, very easy to grow and always in flower. Anyway, I'm glad to know it's progeny are surviving in cultivation; makes me feel good to know I've helped "save" a rare species ! Peter" A great story that falls somewhat in the realm of a "ripping yarn" and tells a little about the pleasures and pains of plant collecting in the tropics. As it happens, when preparing this article, I had a look back through my flasking register for the B.serra entry. The entry reads…. Bulbophyllum serra B315 Iawaware Caves Central Province 450m Sect. Dialeipanthe and seed collected by… P.O'Byrne! To tie the whole history of the plants neatly up, the parent plant is also illustrated by photograph and line drawing in Peter's recent Lowland Orchids of Papua New Guinea. Peter only ever found the species once so all photos, drawings, seeds, divisions, etc. are from the collection he has so vividly described. I seem to like the species a bit more than Peter so I'm quite glad he held on to the prize when the vicious little wasps fought back. |