Friday, March 30, 2012

Black and Blue..

          Orchid comes in many colour and shades..the most common ones are pink, purple, white, yellow or green, with some combination and various shades..Since orchid has entered our garden, two most desired colours that has been dreamed by many orchid growers are black and blue. Orchids with these colours were considered precious and rare. But was there really any  black or blue in orchids..?

           Orkid terdapat di dalam pelbagai warna, Yang selalu kita lihat ialah merah jambu, ungu, putih, kuning atau hijau. Warna-warna ini terdapat dalam berbagai tona dan kombinasi tertentu mengikut spesis mahupun hibrid. Sejak manusia mula mengenali orkid, dua warna yang paling diimpikan ialah biru dan hitam. Orkid yang mempunyai warna-warna ini akan sentiasa menjadi buruan. Tetapi adakah ia betul-betul biru tulen atau hitam pekat?

            The truth is there's no such thing as a true blue orchid orchid!.Orchids simply don't have the genetics to produce a blue pigment. Orchids with the 'blue' tone usually were called 'coerulea'. Theres some Phalaenopsis for sale that had been dyed blue, but if they rebloomed they'd have been white orchids, and looking at the roots you could see where they'd been watered or injected through their stem with a blue dye! Some of the more bluish purples are sometimes described as "blue,". The closest you'll find to a blue orchid is Vanda coerulea anda few terrestrials orchids species from Australia that comes almost true blue..but close inspection they are not quite..there is always some shades of purple underneath..the lack of red hues makes the particular flower appear 'blue' or shall I say bluish purple..?

            Sebenarnya tak pernah wujud pun orkid biru tulen dan hitam pekat.Tumbuhan orkid sebenarnya tidak mempunyai kemampuan genetik untuk menghasilkan pigmen biru atau hitam. Baru-baru ini terdapat orkid Phalaenopsis biru tulen yang dijual di luar negara, tetapi ianya telah 'diwarnakan' dengan warna biru yang diserap melalui akar atau disuntik pada tangkai bunganya dengan pewarna. Sesetengah warna ungu kebiruan akan kelihatan seperti biru tulen. Antara spesis orkid yang hampir kepada warna biru tulen ialah Vanda coerulea, dan beberapa spesis orkid tanah Australia seperti Cyanicula atau Thelymitra. Walaupun birunya menyerlah, apabila dilihat secara dekat ia tidak 100% biru.  Mesti ada sedikit tona ungu yang kelihatan..kekurangan pigmen merah pada orkid yang sebenarnya berwarna ungu menyebabkan ia kelihatan kebiruan.

           You'll also never see a black orchid, for the same reason: orchids don't have the genes for a black pigment. There are dark-colored orchids that are almost black, such as certain Cymbidiums, but there's always a strong underlying hue.. Orchids create dark colors by having so much of another pigment that it darkens the flower. Orchid breeders are trying hard to create closer approximations of black, because a black orchid would be really cool! Some are even pretty close. But none are really black.
Maybe they'll someday make some genetically modified blue or black orchids. That's the only way I can think of to get a true blue or black. But alas, there's no such thing at present.

           Kita juga setakat ni tak ada lagi orkid yang hitam pekat..disebabkan hal yang sama seperti di atas. Orkid tak ada gen yang menghasilkan pigmen hitam tulen. Orkid kelihatan hitam disebabkan oleh konsentrasi pigmen berwarna coklat, ungu, atau merah hati yang banyak. Oleh itu ia kelihatan hitam, tetapi pemeriksaan secara dekat mendapati ianya adalah asal dari warna-warna yang disebutkan tadi. Sememangnya orkid yang berwarna hitam dan biru cuba dihasilkan  sehitam atau sebiru yang mungkin disebabkan oleh daya tarikannya yang tersendiri. Mungkih pada suatu hari akan terhasil orkid biru atau hitam tulen, tetapi buat masa sekarang kita kenalah tunggu..

          Walau bagaimanapun gambar-gambar di bawah ni merupakan contoh-contoh orkid yang dianggap berwarna 'hitam' dan 'biru'. Spesis dan juga hybrid.

           But anyway just to satisfy our imagination lets considered these are 'blue' and 'black' orchids Heres some samples both species and hybrids..


All the 'blacks'..


Cymbidium Ruby Valley 'Emperor'


Ctmds. Black-Magic 'Nosferatu'


Cymbidium Kiwi Baron 'New Horizon'


Dracula vampira 'negra'


Fdk. After-Dark 'Black-Diamond'


Paphiopedilum Astro Boy (Paph. Makuli x Paph. rothschildianum)



Paphiopedilum leucochilum



Maxillaria schunkeana


Paph. Krulls-black-shadow 'crystelle'


Paphiopedilum Stealth 'Black Dragon'


Paphiopedilum GauloisWssen-Goultenianum X Paph. rothschildianum


PaphiopedilumWssner Black Dream-WssnerFiredance X Paph. rothschildianum


Pleurothallis teaguei


 Catasetum Memoria Lum Hon


Actually you can really see their original colour on the lighter part of these 'black' flowers.

Dalam gambar-gambar ini memang dapat dilihat warna sebenar orkid-orkid 'hitam' ini terutamanya pada bahagian kelopak yang lebih cerah..



..and the 'blues'..


Cyanicula sericea


Cyanicula gemmata


Thelymitra ixiodes


Vanda coerulea


Thelymitra crinita


Thelymitra crinita


Disa graminifolia


Disa graminifolia


Disa longicornu


Dendrobium delicatulum


Dendrobium delicatulum


Dendrobium victoria-reginae


Dendrobium ceraula


Cleisocentron merrillianum


Lc. Wrigleyi


Zygonisia Roquebrune


Cattleya labiata coerulea 'laura'



Yonezawara Blue Star


Dendrobium Mingle's Sapphire



AOS judges describe “blue”  as a variety of descriptive colors such as lilac, rose blue, blue-lavender, lavender-blue, blue-violet, blue-purple or indigo blue


Nevertheless these so called black and blue orchids does look so mouth watering..! Simply stunning!

Walau bagaimanapun orkid-orkid biru dan hitam ini memang terliur la tengok..sungguh mengujakan..!



Blue thou art, intensely blue; Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue? 
                                                                          - James Montgomery









Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Masdevallia lamprotyria

I posted a few pictures of the flowers of this species several months ago.  At that time the plant had just a few flowers, as it does off and on throughout the year, but now the plant is in full bloom and I decided to post some recent pictures both of the flowers and of the plant.  The species is from Peru and Ecuador, the flower is approximately 3 cm and grows on a 10 cm plant with narrow leaves. It blooms in the spring and when it blooms produces many flowers if it is happy.  Mine is grown in a net pot in live sphagnum.  The species is named for its color, and has what seems to me the scent of lilacs, strong enough during the day to perfume a whole room.







Random Orchid Images..

           Today I found another orchid images on a packet of brittle peanut cookies, somebody bought and put it on the coffee table..The flower was used as a trademark of the cookie company..

           I wonder why they use orchid instead of other images, well, I guess the company owner just loves orchid!

   
          Hari ni OC terjumpa satu lagi imej orkid yang digunakan sebagai  tanda dagangan biskut kacang tumbuk ni.. Entah sapa yang beli, letak atas meja kopi tadi..OC baru baik kerja terus ngap..tau-tau nampak pulak cap  orkid.. Sambil mengunyah, terus snap, snap buat bahan blog..!

          Agaknya tauke syarikat ni berkenan dengan bunga orkid kut..terus dia buat cap pada bungkusan ni..!


           To my foreign visitors, these are delicious cookies made from grounded peanuts mixed with sugar..so the taste is rather sweet..I shall say that this is a traditional cookies introduced by the Chinese community. Its still popular today as a local sweet treats. For those who have not tasted this, I said you must! Originally it was wrapped in a thin grease paper..but this one is in a modern packaging..eating this is a rather messy, cause its crumbly, but that's part of the charm..!

           Orang Malaysia semua tahu biskut ni..jadi saya tak payah cerita panjang lah..



 The Cattleya orchid was featured as an official trademark of this product.

Nampak dengan jelas, orkid Cattleya dijadikan tanda dagangan rasmi bagi produk ni..



The cookies plastic wrapping also features a tiny clear 'windows' of  Dendrobium flower
..so you can have a peek on the cookies inside..

Pada bungkusan kacang tumbuk ini juga dibuat tetingkap jernih berupa orkid Dendrobium,
jadi bolehlah nampak biskut tu di dalam..


Ok sampai jumpa lagi..



Sincerity is not a spontaneous flower nor is modesty either. 
                                                                     - Sidonie Gabrielle Colette







Saturday, March 24, 2012

My Orchids : Blooming Recently..

These are pictures of selected orchid blooms and with close-ups in my garden recently both species and hybrids

 Orkid spesis dan hybrid yang mekar baru-baru ini..


Gratrixara (Grx.)Micheal Samson 'Crommie' xGratrixara Marley Beckford



Dendrobium Burana Fancy hybrid noID





Lc. Mini Purple



 Spathoglottis hybrid



Coelogyne NoID



Spathoglottis hybrid



Dendrobium acerosum



Spathoglottis hybrid



Rhynchorides Bangkok Sunset



Spathoglottis plicata


Dendrobium Aurora Ying Chun Villacellino




Brassavola cucullata




Catasetum Hybrid noID




Dendrobium cymboglossum






Remember that children, marriages, 
and flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get. 
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr