Polystachya pubescens

[naoki]

I got this plant from Lourens & Jolisa Grobler of Afri Orchids when I was visiting Redland International Orchid Festival in 2016. It is a compact and cheerful orchid.

Here is a link to my Orchid Borealis blog post if you are interested in more photos and a bit of trivia.


Polystachya pubescens on Flickr

The hairs on the lip is pseudo-pollen/food hairs:

Polystachya pubescens on Flickr


Polystachya pubescens on Flickr

 

[blondie]

Very nice lovely species

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

Love the second shot. You can certainly see why it got its name.

 

[naoki]

Tom, that's what I thought, but Hooker (1866) seems to suggest that the species name is referring to the hairy stem (of the inflorescence). The hair in this species is rich in protein, and these hairs are potentially a reward to pollinators (some other species in this genus has a similar mechanism of pseudo pollen). I haven't guessed that functionality.

 

[Lanmark]

Brilliant and beautiful!

 

[SlipperFan]

Sweet!

 

[abax]

What a bright, sunny face those flowers present. Naoki,
your posts are always a delight.

 

[TyroneGenade]

Wow, lovely flowers and plant--which is why I also have one. Naoki, mine hasn't flowered, and the plant has more growths than yours. I worry I am not providing something needed to trigger flowering. How do you grow your plant? Lighting changes with the seasons? Temperature? Dry rest?

 

[Hamlet]

As always, wonderful photos and interesting plant!

 

[naoki]

Thank you all. Tyrone, I'm not sure, I have had it for only 1 year. I've had only 2 other SA Polystachya, and they all seem to flower ok for me. I do keep it fairly cool, and they do seem to grow well; the daily maximum/minimum temperature of 29/18C (85/65F) in the summer, 21/13C (70/55F) in the winter While I was reading about P. pubescens, they mention that it is from summer-rain area with dry winter. I haven't drastically reduced the watering last winter, though. I did reduce the day length slightly for the winter (from 13h to 11.5h). Have you seen it in the native habitat? They mention that it is fairly common species in SA.

 

[TyroneGenade]

Hello Naoki,

No, I haven't seen it in the wild. Its range was 100s of km from where I lived. The closest species to me was P. ottoniana but I still never made the 220 km trip to the Marloth Nature Reserve to see them. :-(

I suspect I am keeping it too warm in the winter. Night temps are probably closer to 70 oF and day temps much higher in my indoor greenhouse. I think I will put it somewhere cooler next year and see what happens.

Thanks for sharing your growing information.