Platyrhiza quadricolor

Platyrhiza quadricolor is micro-miniature species from Brazil, the only species in its genus.  The plant is only 4 cm tall with tiny pea-shaped pseudobulbs and the flowers are 1 cm in size, carried six to eight flowers on a semi-pendant flower spike.  The species name means "four-colored," an apt description of the green, yellow, white and purple flowers.  The plant belong to the Ornithocephalinae, a family of mostly miniature species, many from Brazil.  This is species, however, is more colorful than many others in the family which tend to come in shades of green and white.

Jalan-jalan cari orkid : Hadyaai, Thailand

              Tahun ni OC beraya sakan pergi rumah geng orkid yang dikenali..nak update blog pun tak sempat. Hari ni baru ada masa sikit..Alkisahnya kali ni OC nak ceritakan tentang Ekspo Mo'o ( ejaan ruminya macam ni la kut) di Hadyaai Thailand..Ni dah kira acara tahunan OC dan geng..Kali ni jatuh dalam bulan puasa..aduh..banyak la cabarannya..Tapi demi orkid (he..he) OC gagahkan juga dalam cuaca panas dan keletihan berjalan kaki membelek orkid di sana..

              I've been visiting Thailand again this year for another orchid 'shopping'..along with my two friends. It has been my yearly trip for us in the past few years. This is the southern part of Thailand, Hadyaai to be exact. Every year in August, an agricultural expo was held in the Prince Of Songkhla University compound. Orchids was among the main attraction here..so here we are..again..

 Sepanjang perjalanan...

Somewhere along the way..

 Lokasi Ekspo ni ialah di kawasan Universiti Prince Of Songkhla..

Ini kebun sayuran yang diusahakan oleh penuntut di situ..

gemuk-gemuk betul, geram tengok..!

Nice vegetable garden they have here, grown by the students.

 Tahun-tahun sebelumnya tak ada kanopi, 

tapi tahun ni di kawasan laluan utama dah ada..

tak lah teruk sangat kepanasan..sebabnya Ekspo ini semakin dikenali 

dan semakin ramai orang yang datang..

This time they've built a canopy , 

providing shade to the visitors from the heat..

 Tahun ni jualan orkid tak meriah sangat, 

sebabnya ialah banjir yang berlaku tahun lepas jadi kuranglah sikit..

There was not as many orchids on sale this year, 

possibly because of the bad flood last year, so some of the plants in the affected nursery

 may take some time to recover..

 Bukan setakat orkid spesis pakis ni pun ada..macam-macam..

Not just orchid, but this fern related species available for sale..

 Kali ni musim Aerides lawrenceae..

merata gerai ada..cantik-cantik..tapi OC tak beli lah pulak..

entah rasa tak teringin..

Lots of flowering Aerides lawrenceae this time around..

 Paphiopedilum hybrid..

 Paphiopedilum bellatulum

 Paphiopedilum leucochilum

  Paphiopedilum leucochilum..yang ni 'marking' nya cantik..

This one got a very nice marking..

Dalam OC dok tengok macam-macam pokok tu 

ada juga yang menarik perhatian, contoh macam rumput padang 

'variegated' ni..tak penah OC tengok lagi ni..

There is always some interesting plants to see in 

this agricultural event like this variegated grass.

 Ionopsis paniculata, kalau dah di 'display' macam ni memang menangkap mata..

 Ionopsis paniculata 'shower'

 Grammatophyllum scriptum, 'marking' nya cantik

Grammatophyllum scriptum, with a special 'marking'. Sample only..

 Dendrobium unicum

 'Display' jualan ni dah macam taman bromeliad..

Bromeliads for sale

 ...berbagai spesis, warna dan bentuk..

Choose which one you prefer..

 A striking deep red and pink..

 Tidak ketinggalan..pokok periuk kera ini..Nepenthes rafflesiana..

Carnivorous plants, a suitable companion plants to bromeliads. 

This is Nepenthes rafflesiana..

 Grammatophyllum speciosum

 Satu lagi pokok periuk kera berasal dari US, spesis Sarracenia.

 Shoenorchis fragrans, walaupun bunganya kecil tapi sangat cantik!

Shoenorchis fragrans, though small but the flowers are very pretty!

 Dendrobium bracteosum

Cymbidium madidum, spesis dari Australia

Australian, cymbidium madidum

 Bromeliads

 Kali ni tak banyak orkid yang 'special' banyak yang biasa saja..

tak apa lah duit boleh simpan..he..he..

Not many special hybrids or species this time around, all the usual ones..

 Parang dan pisau pun ada...

 Bunga teratai yang ada di sini macam-macam warna..

multicoloured waterlilies..

 Jalan-jalan beriringan, toleh kiri toleh kanan..kut-kut ada yang berkenan..!

 Paphiopedilum concolor

 Keladi hiasan yang telah dikacuk..

 Oncidium hibrid..

 Benih pokok kelapa bantut yang berbuah lebat..

A seedlings of a dwarf coconut tree..

 Barangan kraf pun tak ketinggalan untuk dijual..

Bamboo craft items

 Nah..kereta pun ada..termasuk juga alatan jentera pertanian yang OC tak ambil gambar..

Not just plants, there were cars and other agricultural machines on sale..

 Hiasan cenderahati yang berwarna-warni..

Colourful trinkets, souvenir and stuff..

 Arnab yang comel-comel..

Pet rabbits

 Burung flamingo plastik ni buat hiasan taman boleh la..

Pink flamingos for garden settings..

 Pokok resam batu atau begonia ni dah dikacuk jadi macam bunga ros dah..

A new begonia hybrid..

Hutan Monsun Tropika di Thailand memang banyak spesis buluh..

ni salah satu gerai yang jual banyak spesis untuk hiasan..

ada juga jenis buluh yang sebesar tiang eletrik..

 Bonsai..

Akhir sekali gerai-gerai makanan dan buah-buahan juga banyak di sini..

makanan muslim pun ada, sayangnya masa ni bulan puasa, jadi tengok saja la..

You can enjoy local delicacies and not forgetting local fruits here too..

             Dah penat berjalan dapat la OC beli beberapa orkid yang berkenan, tahun ni tak meriah dengan orkid sangat seperti tahun-tahun yang sebelumnya..apa pun pengalaman di sini memang tak dapat dilupakan..Tahun depan OC akan pergi lagi..jika keadaan mengizinkan..

             Finally, I got few orchids that I like, though not as many as last year. This is an experience that I'll never forget, I'll be back next year hopefully..

Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best 

that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower 

where I thought a flower would grow.

 - Abraham Lincoln

Dendrobium hellwigianum

Here is another Dendrobium from the Oxyglossum section, a group of mostly high-altitude, miniature Dendrobiums from Papua New Guinea, that have some of the longest lasting flowers in the orchid world, some of them lasting six months or more.  I have often wondered if this is due to a lack of pollinators at those high altitudes, but have never seen an explanation.

This species is named after a German orchid collector and blooms profusely when well grown.  My plant, still rather small, has around 50 flowers on it at present.  The distinctive white, purple and orange coloring of the flowers is concealed by the foliage to some extent since the flowers appear, three or four to a growth, among the leaves at the top of the small pseudobulbs.

The plant is 10 cm tall and the flowers are 3 cm tall.  Each growth produces four or five deeply channeled and nearly terete (pencil-like) leaves.  The flowers have a long spur at the base of lip that is nearly transparent and in which drops of nectar can be seen.  My plant is grown on a mount which is nearly covered with moss and which keeps the plant constantly damp.