What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

non-cp but... what's this?

adnedarn

I'm growing CPs in the Desert of Tucson, Az
Admin
Hello all.. I've had this plant growing in with a Sarr for a few years now... I don't know when it showed up, but once it did, it really didn't grow. So, I left it... All the sudden out of nowhere, I see this flower stalk. The S. psittacina looks pretty crappy now that it's getting colder (or it doesn't like sharing the pot lol I havn't uprooted it to see what the root situation is)... But this other plant has grown LOTS all the sudden. Including this flower out of no where.. Any ideas??
-Andrew


1014071052.jpg

1014071052a.jpg
 
got any better pics of the leaves and a close up of the flowers? ive got a couple ideas but without better pics dont want to hazard a guesss
 
looks like... an orchid in the genus Spiranthes.


(The spiral arrangement of the inflorescences is fairly distinctive)
 
No, I don't have a better picture... This is camera phone pictures, as most of you know my green house is not at the house that I live at... So stopping by there is spuratic at best, and I always forget my camera :p But if it's needed I can TRY to remember it somehow. LOL When I do remember it, the rechargeable batteries end up being dead hehe

I will say that it used to be just a rosette with barely any height to it... Then all the sudden this upwards growth and flower... The growth was similar to... bromeliad??
 
Definitely a species 0f Spiranthes.
 
As promised, I forgot my camera :D I attempted to use my dad's but I think it is even worse than my cam phone haha But I got a few pics... There are new plants poking up so I got a shot of their leaves. And also a picture of the roots... This may explain why the cp in this pot doesn't look too good. I'll get everything separated out sometime soon :p


I do think you have the family correct as the pictures I found matched what this looks like, will better pics help anyone narrow down the plant? I have location data of where this cp came from, I wonder if the seed came from there, or with the peat. Hard to tell.

Thanks guys!!

andrew+pictures+006.jpg


andrew+pictures+007.jpg
 
UM... um... you want the species, im assuming.

Um. Better pictures would not help me, because I don’t have any real ability to identify orchids. You should post a good one of the flowers so someone else can get a good look. Its maybe… possibly… Spiranthes cernua, it looks very similar to cultivated plants I have seen but that may mean nothing at all. If you google Spiranthes cernua it stresses how diffucult any identification of the similar species are.
The problems in identifying specimens of Spiranthes are centered around S. cernua, and are not the result of too much splitting in this group. The taxa that have been recently separated from S. cernua (S. casei, S. magnicamporum, and S. ochroleuca) are all distinct and invariable. both in morphology and in chromosome number. S. cernua, on the other hand, is extremely variable in morphology and chromosome number. Numerous polyploid and aneuploid races of S. cernua exist, and often appear radically different from "typical" S. cernua. Charles Sheviak (1982) has published a thorough and detailed examination of the S. cernua problem; anyone serious about Spiranthes taxonomy should consult this work.
http://www.botany.wisc.edu/orchids/cernua.html

I hope someone more knowledgeable of orcids will be able to get it with relative certainty.

But anyways, congradulations. How lucky is it to have an orchid volenteer? I would be very excited. And your doing well for it too, as i can see. Good for you.
 
I bought one of those about a month ago. It's definitely Spiranthes (or ladies' tresses orchids) but identifying it further is next to impossible, if you look at pictures of all the species. I have an S. cernua (nodding ladies' tresses) and yours looks just like mine, down to the roots, which look like big dirty pieces of spaghetti. The roots just get insane if left to grow in the same pot, like a big noodle maze. Ends up taking forever to separate them all out. If parts of the roots are up close to the surface they will begin sprouting new plants, but that's as far as I've gotten with Spiranthes. They are a terrestrial bog orchid, native to the US.
 
Back
Top