Leo Schordje
wilted blossom
At least half of my collection of some 1000+ plants are plants that I keep for my own enjoyment, with no intention of ever putting them up for sale. This is one of them. The flower is nothing special, it is nice, but even well grown not likely to get AOS awards. But I cherish the plant for the memories it brings to mind. I had set this plant back a few years ago, rotted roots off. So this blooming is on a chunk of it that is in a 2.5 inch pot. The flower will be much better when the plant is grown better. The side view shows the trait that gave hirsustissimum its name - the hairs. Much more common in USA cultivation is the variety esquirolei - which means 'shorn' refering to esquirolei's shorter and more sparse hair on the ovary and flower stem.
The story: This is a Paph hirsustissimum that was given to me in Milwaukee, some years back, maybe 1992. The plant was a gift from Jnan Hankay Rai, of Kathmandu, Nepal. He was in town for his daughter's PHD graduation ceremony. I had taken Jnan on a walk through Illinois Beach State Park to see the native orchids in bloom. The year of his visit he was 88 years old. We were lucky enough to see Calopogon puchellus in bloom. He was delighted, and when we flushed up a garter snake, and I picked it up, Jnan's reaction brought to mind that in his part of the world, king cobra is a common snake. It took a bit to convince him it was non-poisonous, but once I did, he held the snake. Jnan said he had collected this hirsustissimum in Nepal in the 1960's when he was first building his orchid collection. He and I talked about Nepalese orchids, and he ended up bringing several Paph charlesworthii back to Nepal when he left, because as far as he could tell, Paph charlesworthii can no longer be found in Nepal. Jnan Rai was retired, formerly an offical in the Nepalese government, in their equivalent of the Department of Agriculture. His intent was to produce a batch of Paph charleworthii seedlings and re-introduce them back in the the area he had collected from 40 years earlier. I have not heard from him or his family in years, he would be over 100 years old now if he were still with us. This plant always evokes fond memories of a chapter in my life. (yes, there is a much longer version of this tale - but that tale requires imbibing pure distilled spirits aged in oak for at least 10 years, bourbon or scotch preferred). Enjoy
The story: This is a Paph hirsustissimum that was given to me in Milwaukee, some years back, maybe 1992. The plant was a gift from Jnan Hankay Rai, of Kathmandu, Nepal. He was in town for his daughter's PHD graduation ceremony. I had taken Jnan on a walk through Illinois Beach State Park to see the native orchids in bloom. The year of his visit he was 88 years old. We were lucky enough to see Calopogon puchellus in bloom. He was delighted, and when we flushed up a garter snake, and I picked it up, Jnan's reaction brought to mind that in his part of the world, king cobra is a common snake. It took a bit to convince him it was non-poisonous, but once I did, he held the snake. Jnan said he had collected this hirsustissimum in Nepal in the 1960's when he was first building his orchid collection. He and I talked about Nepalese orchids, and he ended up bringing several Paph charlesworthii back to Nepal when he left, because as far as he could tell, Paph charlesworthii can no longer be found in Nepal. Jnan Rai was retired, formerly an offical in the Nepalese government, in their equivalent of the Department of Agriculture. His intent was to produce a batch of Paph charleworthii seedlings and re-introduce them back in the the area he had collected from 40 years earlier. I have not heard from him or his family in years, he would be over 100 years old now if he were still with us. This plant always evokes fond memories of a chapter in my life. (yes, there is a much longer version of this tale - but that tale requires imbibing pure distilled spirits aged in oak for at least 10 years, bourbon or scotch preferred). Enjoy
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