The Jewels of the Orchid Family

Welcome to a New Year and, according to some, a new millennium in the the Orchid Garden.

To begin this special New Year, I have picked one of the prettiest foliage orchids in the orchid kingdom as the topic of my first article of the new millennium.

Many times you may hear people comment on the unattractiveness of orchid plants. Some will actually purchase an orchid in full bloom and then throw the "ugly thing" away when it has completed its blooming cycle!

The "Jewel Orchids," with their elegant leaves, are an exception to this rule because they are grown for their foliage more than the flowers.

The leaves of the "Jewel Orchids" may look like a burgundy velvet piece of cloth, delicately decorated with red and gold veins. Others are a maroon color, while some are a lush wintergreen on top,with rich maroon underneath, and accented with white veins flowing through the leaf.

In this article I will tell you about four "Jewel Orchid" genera - Ludisia, Anoectochilus, Goodyera and Macodes.

The most common "Jewel Orchid" is a native of Indonesia and Burma called Ludisia discolor, which is also known as Haemaria discolor.

You may be growing this orchid as a house plant right now and not realize it is an orchid! In the United States, these are often found in stores around Easter.
Since they are planted in rich soil, many think they are just another pretty houseplant. The flowers are small and grow in clusters on upright inflorescence.

The blooms are white with yellow columns, have no fragrance and can last for 2 to 3 weeks.
The history of Ludisia discolor is quite interesting.

In 1818 John Ker-Gawler described this orchid in the Botanical register as Goodyera discolor.

A. Richard re-classified Goodyeara discolor (1825) in the "Dictionnaire Classique d' Histoire" as Ludisia discolor.

In 1840 along came John Lindley and for some reason transferred this species again!
This time it was placed in the genus Haemaria in his "Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants".

Finally in 1970 P.F. Hunt discussed this species in the "Kew Bulletin" that Ludisia was, infact, the correct name for this species. Will it be moved again? May be.

When caring for Ludisia discolor, keep the medium moist but not wet. Soggy roots will soon rot on these plants.

Their creeping nature makes them very good candidates for a terrarium, since they will grow out of a pot very fast.

In the generic name Haemaria "Haem-" stands for "blood red".
If you want to preserve the rich, dark blood red color of the leaves, don't let provide to much light. The leaves will be bleach out to a very pale color with to much light.

Ideally, if you can acquire some live Sphagnum for your media and use a terrarium, the "Jewel" orchids will love this arrangement in your home.
If you have a green thumb, try one of these extraordinary orchids.

Goodyera genus has about twenty five species. These plants are also often referred to as the "Rattlesnake Plantains" because the coloring of the leaves often looks like reptile skin. The small bract-like inflorescence can have over 40 blooms on it.

Goodyeara pubescens is one of the most common orchids in the United States which is found in the area of Wisconsin. The leaves of this "jewel" are wintergreen.

Macodes This genus has seven to ten species that are distributed from Malaysia, Indonesia, Sumatra to the Philippines. They are very Similar to Ludisia except for their flowers which has the lip at the top of the flower. These species are quite rare and are not seen in collections as frequently as Ludisia.

My very good friend sent me a fairy tale about where the peculiar venation and leaf patterns of Macodes orchids originated. The story is not exactly scientific, but then most fairy tales are not.

"A goddess of magnificent beauty, clad in sparkling raiment of silk, came to Java wishing to inspire the natives with finer feelings. Being gross and perverse people, they attacked her and chased her into the deep forest. Weary and sad, she laid her celestial scarf upon the rocks, then turned in great wrath toward the people. Now realizing they beheld a goddess, they implored her pardon and begged her to leave her scarf. She let them see it once more before returning to heaven. But several fragments were left behind on the sharp rocks. They were transformed and gave rise to leaves resembling the silken finery. Devoted ones, seeing the plants, took them up and transplanted them. In spite of their care and prayers, their treasures withered away. But the goddess was merciful and revived the dying plants with her breath. Thus the pure joy of the cloisonné green leaves of Macodes petola, with their satiny purple glints and shining veins which scintillate like small fragments of gold, has been conserved."
(From Vacherot, M.: "Les Orchidées". J. Balliére & Sons, Paris, 1954.
English translation is from The Orchids,A Scientific Survey.
By Withner, C.L. (ed): Ronald Press Company, NY,1959. page 9)

Jewel Orchids are typically found growing in the rich humus found in the shade of large trees or growing where the water seeps down on rock surfaces and are classified as terrestrial herbs. Jewel orchids require a humidity level of 70% to 80%, low light (1000-1500 fc), and temperatures of 60-65 ºF (16-18 ºC) at night, 70-80 ºF (21-27 ºC) during the day. Since these orchids prefer low light, they also do not require a high amount of fertilizer.

Dilute the fertilizer and use very sparingly. They are slow growing plants as well.

If you are able to supply the needed humidity, these are excellent plants to grow in your home. Try growing them in a terrarium or a room that has high humidity like a bathroom or kitchen.

To propagate the "Jewel" orchids, take cuttings of the fleshy rhizomes and place them in moist soil, Sphagnum moss, or even in a glass of water to create a new root system. It will take quite a few weeks for the roots to form, so be patient.

This plant is one my brother is growing indoors.
He has that magic touch!

The key to this is let it grow and do not divide it.

Cultivating Ludisia discolor in hobbyist orchid collections is indeed not difficult, however, there are other "jewel orchids", which are definitely not for the casual orchid fan.

Reproducing the environmental conditions of the micro-habitats in which these orchids live in nature calls for much more than academic knowledge - it is an art in itself. Small wonder that there are precious few true magicians specializing in these orchids.

Emphasis has to be laid on specialization. Which means that if you wish to build a mixed orchid collection then master cultivating the jewels first because very many other orchids will be all oo happy in environments in which even fussy jewel orchids thrive while the reverse is not necessarily true.

Having said so, let me in you on a collection, wich is probably the very best of its kind, all over the world. Perhaps unbelievable but true, it is located in a flat, in which the jewel orchids are cultivated in the living room and on a small balcony converted to a greenhouse. See the proof below.

To the right there is a terrarium containing a mixed collection of jewel orchids and several other, small species. The length of the glass box is matching the length of the fluorescent tube armature; three 20 watt tubes provide the artificial lighting. Notice the small fan in the upper left corner - in charge of ensuring the proper ventillation, which is a critical factor.

Part of an identical glass box can be seen at left, sitting on the windowill. Since outside the window the balcony is converted to a mini-glasshouse, where other orchids are also cultivated and cast shadow onto this glass box, additional artificial lighting has to be provided here, too.
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In this box the jewel orchids are planted into about 6x6x4 inches glass-clean perspex boxes perforated at the bottom.

The "potting mix" is pure polyurethane, the particle size is about equal to the particle size of the rough bark mix usually used for large orchids, like Cymbidiums, Vandas and other, in this respect similar orchids are. This polyurethane layer is about 3 - 3,5 inches thick - planted with Sphagnum moss collected especially for this pupose from Sphagnum bogs.

The about 1 inches deep liquid phase occupying the bottom of the glass box supplies water, nutrients as well as the atmospheric moisture.

The indeed tricky, cardinally important point is the composition of this liquid phase. Artificial fertilizers are not used at all, the best composition was determined on the basis of detailed soil analyses performed on soil samples collected together, simultaneously with collecting jewel orchids in their natural habitats.

Now let's have a look at what is inside! Point to the thumbnails below and Athene will help with comments where appropriate.

In closing to the small sampler above, here is just one more: