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Sarcochilus hartmannii is a Vandaceous orchid from eastern Australia. Wikipedia says: "Sarcochilus hartmannii, commonly known as the large boulder orchid', ravine orchid, Hartmann's sarcochilus or cliff orchid, is a lithophytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It forms spreading clumps with between four and ten thick, channelled leaves and up to twenty five white flowers with crimson spots near the centre. Flowering occurs between September and November. Sarcochilus hartmannii was first formally described in 1874 by Ferdinand von Mueller and the description was published in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from a specimen collected near Toowoomba by Carl Heinrich Hartmann. The specific epithet (hartmannii) honours the collector of the type specimen. The large boulder orchid usually grows on boulders and cliffs, rarely on trees or cycads. It is found between Gympie in south-east Queensland and the Richmond River in New South Wales." The dendrobiums from eastern Australia are a tough lot, tolerating low temperatures quite well. Sarcochilus are becoming popular and are attracting attention from plant breeders, I thought that it was worth trying one in the greenhouse. I got a number of divisions from a larger plant and initially they did well in the greenhouse, producing new roots. They were also coping fairly well with low temperatures in the first half of winter. Unfortunately in the early weeks of January we were hit by an unusually savage radiation frost which killed the plants in a single night. The internet orchid species encyclopedia says: "An eastern Australian, small to medium sized, cool to hot growing, lithophytic and sometimes epiphytic species found on exposed cliffs at altitudes up to 1000 meters," |
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| 5th July 2022 | ||
