Orchid Artist Gregory Raymond...

"GREGORY RAYMOND Halili...
32... artist...

his latest series of miniatures... "Orchids," 20 pieces in watercolor onpaper, recently in West Gallery ... Mandaluyong City.

Limning numerous orchid varieties... Halili compacts in these pieces arange of colors... and a variety of patterns...

He never... depicts the entire flower but focuses on its labial form...Each piece is composed in an oval on creamy paper then dusted with metallic
powder...

Halili's... fascination with orchids... "The orchid is the flower most closely associated with humans, particularly the female genitalia..."

A Fine Arts graduate from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Halili has exhibited his works in New York, Philadelphia, Ohio, Arkansas,
Florida, Wisconsin, Washington, DC. In the Philippines, aside from West Gallery, he has shown in the Jorge Vargas Museum of the University of the Philippines."

URL :
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/diaspora/diaspora/view_article.php?article_id=91791

images :

http://images.inquirer.net/media/globalnation/diaspora/diaspora/images/pic-10010432320977.jpg

http://images.inquirer.net/media/globalnation/diaspora/diaspora/images/pic-10010432480556.jpg

Enjoy,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

Wild Orchids of Wellington, New Zealand - New Book

native orchid book. Acknowledging the Wellington region as one of New Zealand's "orchid hotspots", the Department of Conservation has produced a
field guide identifying 72 species of wild orchids in the lower North Island...

The book was launched on September 4...
"We want to inspire people to head out and explore the region's parks and reserves while searching for orchids that, once found, can be left for others to enjoy," said Department of Conservation [DOC] botanist John Sawyer, who co-authored the book with Peter de Lange, one of New Zealand's
leading plant conservation scientists; photographer and botanist Jeremy Rolfe, and national orchid expert Ian St George.

"DOC is interested in orchids because, while much of the global interest is in the cultivation of exotic forms and varieties, there is also the most
important work of protecting wild populations, Mr Sawyer said. "Wetlands, dunes and forests continue to be degraded through development, drainage and
the effects of exotic animals and weeds so the need to protect wild orchids becomes ever more pressing," he said.

Mr Sawyer said Wellington was a hotspot for orchids because of its huge diversity of habitat types and ecosystems, ranging from the dry eastern
Wairarapa terrain, to sub-alpine areas and wetlands, estuaries, and the coast. "More than 70 percent of New Zealand's orchids occur in Wellington...

"We encourage the public to keep an eye out for wild orchids and let us know if they see anyone removing plants from the wild," Mr Sawyer
said... DOC is working with landowners, councils, iwi and community groups to protect nationally threatened orchids at key sites."

URL :
http://www.localmedia.co.nz/northerncourier/stories/nc100907/page11-NEWS-Otari+pic.htm

photo : [caption : A decade in the making, Wild

Enjoy,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

Prasophyllum affine - Jervis Bay leek Orchid endangered

The developer behind a new shopping centre and 604-lot housing development for Vincentia, on the New South Wales south coast, has met...
representatives at Jervis Bay.

The approval for the Stockland development this year was granted, after residents raised concerns about the impact of the development on endangered
species, including the Jervis Bay leek orchid [Prasophyllum affine]

A number of groups, including the Vincentia Ratepayer and Residents Association, met the developer on site...

Shoalhaven Mayor Greg Watson... says Stockland has already begun work to protect the orchid.
"Stockland actually proved themselves to be fairly environmentally sensitive during the clearing works," he said. "They discovered a patch of endangered orchids so they contacted the local
orchid expert [name ?] and with his assistance and advice, the orchids were
relocated." "

URL : http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/13/2031538.htm?site=illawarra

Two rare species of orchids discovered in Nui Chua National Park

Nui Chua National Park in the southern province of Ninh Thuan...

scientists... discovered two rare species of orchids in the park...
Bromheadia annamensis and Panisea vinhii, were discovered by experts of the Institute for Ecology and Flora Resources of Vietnam and the Misurin[Missouri !] Botanical Garden of the US.

... these species... found in Vietnam for the first time. The park has designed a plan to protect the... orchids.

Nui Chua National Park is located in Vinh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district of Ninh Thuan province. It has a total area of nearly 30,000ha. This forest has a typical dry ecosystem of Southeast Asia, with 1,265 floral and 306 fauna species"

URL : http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/09/739589/

Jim Jordan - New Chief Operating Officer of AOS

"Florida-born Jim Jordan...
recently moved to Delray Beach to become the chief operating officer of the American Orchid Society. Previously, he was a principal of Franklin
Consulting & Training in Michigan, developing business plans for professional florists... Prior to that, Jordan was executive vice president of the FTD Association...

He plans to use many of the same strategies and tactics that made FTD the brand it is... as he develops the business plan for orchid society.
...
He... plans to shine a spotlight on the society's dedication to environmental and botanical conservation, and research.

He learned of the orchid society position through a colleague in Washington who urged him to apply.

The [AOS]... was founded more than 85 years ago by... growers from the Northeast. It was housed at Harvard University for nearly 60 years.

In 1984, the society moved to West Palm Beach to a 6-acre estate owned by former society President Lewis Vaughn. The organization broke ground on its new headquarters in Delray Beach in September 1999.

With nearly 18,000 members around the world, the society is recognized as the international leader in orchid education, research, and conservation."

URL :

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2007/09/10/a9bz_movingup_0910.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=6

Cuba's Oldest Botanical Garden

Cienfuegos Botanical Garden...

Cuba's oldest botanical garden, founded in 1901 at south central Cienfuegos province, owns 400 breeds of orchids.
...
Cuba owns 49 endemic orchids, plus curiosities like leafless Afilas [???], and others that rank among the world's tiniest orchids..

Cienfuegos Botanical Garden, founded as a sugar cane study station"

URL :
http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2007/09/08/5660/cienfuegos_botanical_garden_has_400_orchid_breeds.html

OrchidWiz Encyclopedia Software released...

Encyclopedia 4.0...
orchid database software from OrchidWiz...

the number of orchid images available... nearly 20,500...detailed taxonomic and cultivation data for thousands of orchid species.
...
orchid species cultivation data sourced from the work of Charles Baker...tabs for humidity, water, temperature...search the AOS bulletins and AOS magazines by author or title. list orchids from a certain area... or list... orchids of a certain genera
that are cool growing, or by other characteristics.
... compare images of the four top species in the background of a hybrid...

OrchidWiz... is a software company based in Miami Shores, Florida... OrchidWiz Encyclopedia software is used... in 33 countries. Over 200
American Orchid Society judges and more than 150 orchid nurseries currentlyuse OrchidWiz...

Web Site:http://www.orchidwiz.com "

URL : http://www.financevisor.com/market/news_detail.aspx?rid=58431

Tiffany Orchid Pins

"the 1889 Paris Exposition... Tiffany orchid pin...

a 1994 Wall Street Journal article mentioning the Tiffany orchid pins...

In 1889, Tiffany produced 25 Orchid brooches for the Paris Exposition. There, the company won the gold medal for jewelry, largely due to the pins,
which were exact duplicates of a natural orchid...

Produced as a limited edition, the Expo brooches disappeared into private collections... Several of the originals are in the permanent Tiffany & Co. collection.

In 1993, an orchid brooch from the Expo sold at Sotheby's for a record $415,000.

Measuring about 2 inches by 1-1/2 inches"

URL :
http://www.tulsaworld.com/entertainment/article.aspx?articleID=070901_8_D6_spanc40612

**************
Regards,

Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

Platanthera yosemitensis Orchid found again

Platanthera yosemitensis, the Yosemite bog orchid... slender spike of quarter-inch-long greenish-yellow flowers... it has a smell only a true orchidophile could love (or pollinator !!!). U.S. Geological Survey botanist Alison Colwell... rediscovered it... "Some people just wrinkle
their nose, shake their head and walk away," Colwell says.

So why did this obscure wildflower generate national headlines earlier this summer? Well, it's not often that a new species of orchid is described from North America - especially from a location as well known as Yosemite
National Park.

P. yosemitensis has been found and lost and found again. It was discovered in 1923 by the... plant collector George Henry Grinnell. His specimens wound up at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont (Los Angeles
County), where Ron Coleman found them in 1993, while researching his book, "The Wild Orchids of California." Coleman drove to Yosemite that same day and found the orchid in bloom. He sent a sample of the flowers to orchid
taxonomist Charles Sheviak at the New York State Museum in Albany, who identified the plant as P. purpurascens, previously known only from the southern Rockies.

Ten years later, Colwell was preparing for a transfer to the Sierra when she got a call from fellow orchid enthusiast Dean Taylor. The orchid volume in the "Flora of North America" series had just come out, and Taylor had
spotted the anomalous-looking range map for P. purpurascens: a blob in the Four Corners country and a dot in Yosemite. "Look at that!" Taylor told Colwell. "That's not right! You have to find this orchid."

Colwell was assigned to a National Parks Inventory and Monitoring program to survey native plants. "One day my survey partner, Charlotte Coulter, and I were in a very remote wet meadow, something only bears would usually
visit. I started smelling this musky odor. The light was a certain way. I saw these stalks of tiny yellow flowers, bent down to smell them, and said, 'Oh, this is the rare orchid Dean told me to watch out for.' " She ruled out Yosemite's other bog orchids by color (one had white flowers, one had
green) and by the shape of the nectar spur: They had long, narrow spurs to accommodate long-tongued moths and butterflies. But the yellow-flowered orchid had a short, saclike spur - "scrotiform," in botanical terminology.
"It's yellow, smells bad, has a short spur. This must be it," she concluded.

Expanding the search, Colwell and her USGS colleague Peggy Moore found eight more sites for the new orchid. They sent complete specimens to Sheviak in New York and brought him out to see it... Sheviak had suspected
that the plant might be a hybrid. "But when he saw it in the field," Colwell recalls, "he said, 'Oh, no, this is completely different.' "
The species, so far known to be found only in Yosemite, was formally
described this summer in the botanical journal Madro?o, in an article co-authored by Colwell, Sheviak and Moore.

No one will say exactly where the nine locations are; the Yosemite bog orchid is in a botanical witness-protection program. Moore gives its range as "between the main stem and South Fork of the Merced River in the southern part of the park." Botanists are concerned not so much with orchid
poachers as with the impact of visitors. "Its root system is sensitive to breakage, and the ground in the bogs is soft and easily compacted," Moore says. "We're asking people not to seek it out." Lisa Acree, the park's lead botanist, says no one has reported finding it on his own so far.

Apart from its blooming time (between June and August, depending on the snowpack), little is known about the species. Its smell suggests pollination by flies or mosquitoes, but none have been caught in the act.
Genetic studies to determine its closest relatives are pending. Botanists do know that the meadows where it grows are an ancient environment that escaped the last glacial surge - about 10,000 years ago - and may have been ice-free for even longer than that. The orchid's future is uncertain: "We'd have concerns that a species of such limited distribution could decline with changes in moisture, temperature or both," Moore says.

To Colwell, the trail that led to her discovery highlights the importance of plant specimen collections. "We like to think of explorers stumbling on something new in a remote region and having this 'Aha!' moment," she says. "But it's more common for scientists to realize they have a new species on their hands when they're examining dried specimens in herbaria. Universities are getting more molecular biology oriented and not maintaining herbaria." Stanford's has been closed, its collection now with the California Academy of Sciences. "

URL : http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/29/HO3DRN9IP.DTL

Enjoy,
Steve Peralta
www.1888orchids.com

New Orchid Malaxis calophylla found in Vietnam

never before found in Viet Nam...
found by biologists working for Wildlife At Risk (WAR) on Phu Quoc Island.

Malaxis calophylla (Ai lan la dep) and Aphyllorchis montana (Am lan nui)
were... found in July during WAR's latest botanical survey.

Malaxis calophylla... recorded for the first time in Viet Nam....

Only one single specimen of each plant was recorded and both species
urgently require protection, according to WAR.
...
The WAR-sponsored surveys on Phu Quoc Island are... part of a larger
conservation programme begun in early 2007, in collaboration with Phu Quoc
National Park, which aims to protect the island's rich natural resources...

During an earlier survey in May this year... Paphiopedilum callosum, was
recorded in Phu Quoc National Park, another first for the island."

URL :
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/shoinnermostBoxwarticle.php?num=01ENV290807

Enjoy,
Steve Peralta

Corallorhiza maculata

In the Rocky Mountains, spotted coralroot, Corallorhiza maculata, is most
commonly found in stands of ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine. In eastern
deciduous forests, it is associated with beech trees, and in California and
Oregon it grows beneath oaks.

It is a perennial plant with stems one to two feet tall, bearing eight to
20 flowers. Leaves... narrow, transparent sheaths that cling to the stems.
Stems are purple to reddish-brown, and the small... flowers have white
petals with fuchsia spots. Some populations have albino plants, with yellow
stems and unspotted flowers.

Spotted coralroot... lack of leaves, it has no roots, and it lacks
functional chloroplasts, so it cannot photosynthesize. Instead of roots, it
has a fleshy, branched rhizome that looks like a soft coral ? hence the
common name coralroot.
...
Ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine have mutually beneficial associations
with ectomycorrhizal fungi that grow on their roots. Spotted coralroot
grows beneath ponderosa pine and steals sugars from the tree that shades it.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi serve as extensions to the root system, greatly
enhancing the tree's access to water, nitrogen and nutrients that do not
diffuse well, such as various forms of phosphate.... the fungus takes
sugars from the roots of the pine. Sugars are produced in the crown of the
tree by photosynthesis, and are transported to the root system for storage.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi and pines depend on one another. The fungi obtain all
of the photosynthetic products food from pine roots, and if they are
separated from the roots they wither. Pines grow poorly if they are
deprived of ectomycorrhizal fungi and are much more susceptible to drought.

Spotted coralroot taps into the mutualism between fungus and pine. The
orchid's fleshy rhizome attaches to the fungus, and it extracts water,
nutrients and sugars. Water and nutrients are taken directly from the
fungus, but the orchid uses the fungus as a bridge to take sugars from the
pine. This is a parasitic relationship, for neither the fungus nor the tree
derives any benefit from the orchid.

Ponderosa pine is host to many species of ectomycorrhizal fungi, but
spotted coralroot parasitizes a small number of fungal species, and the
species parasitized vary among environments. For example, coralroot uses
one set of fungi in oak forests, and a different set of fungi in ponderosa
forests. Similarly, coralroot uses one set of fungal species at high
elevations and a completely different set at low elevations.

... Reddish-brown and albino coralroots grow intermixed in a population,
but these two forms parasitize different fungal species."

URL :
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/24/orchids-take-nutrients-from-pines-and-fungi/

Orchids and Sex

"a... native orchid trying to outwit a randy male wasp...

Anne Gaskett, a PhD student from Macquarie University in Sydney...
uses advanced colour technology... to understand how five species of native
tongue orchids trick a male wasp into believing he has found a sexual partner.

She says the findings will help to develop environmentally sensitive pest
controls and conserve orchid species.

Ms Gaskett looked at the orchid dupe wasp (Lissopimpla excelsa). And she
says as far as the male is concerned, tongue orchids have "curves in all
the right places".


But the wasp is fooled for only so long.
Her research found that even after just a few exposures to the orchid the
wasp avoids trying to have sex with it.

Ms Gaskett from the Department of Biological Sciences says the orchid must
then enhance its mimicry of the female wasp to continue to attract the male
wasp and pollinate.
"This means only the most persuasive orchids will continue to reproduce,"
she says.
...
Orchids are the only plant whose flowers trick insects using such sexual
deception. The aim is to convince the insect to 'mate' with them. The
insect accidentally collects pollen on its body, which is then transported
to another flower.

Ms Gaskett says the orchid dupe wasp is attracted to and pollinates five
species of tongue orchid in the genus Cryptostylis.
This is unusual as normally one insect pollinates one species of orchid.
She says this means the five orchid species, which look completely
different to the human eye, must look and feel the same to the male wasp.
...
Ms Gaskett used a spectrometer to analyse the colours of four of the five
species and a female wasp.
Taking into account factors including the background colour, ambient light
and colour range of the male wasp's receptors, she found the orchid
replicates almost exactly the colours of the female orchid dupe wasp.

She has also found 'hidden shapes' that feel like a female wasp to the
male, including 'love handles' the male wasp grip onto while mating.
...
Ms Gaskett...
is now studying the perfume of the orchids and testing them on wasp
antennae to look at the role of smell in the seduction process."

URL : http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/21/2010644.htm?section=australia

Orchids are admired by humans and insects alike, but according to Macquarie University research, one Australian wasp is so enthralled by ‘Orchid Fever' that actually he ejaculates while pollinating orchid flowers.


Australian Tongue orchids lure male insects with counterfeit sex signals that mimic those produced by female insects. Hapless male Orchid Dupe wasps (Lissopimpla excelsa) can't resist mating with the orchid flowers and accidentally become pollen couriers. Until recently, this trick was not thought to harm the reluctant insect Romeos, but biologists Anne Gaskett, Claire Winnick, and Marie Herberstein from Macquarie University, have discovered that the male wasps visiting Tongue orchids waste thousands of sperm on the flowers. "If males waste all their sperm on orchids, what have they got to offer a real female?" asks Gaskett, a PhD student whose research paper on the study was published on Friday in American Naturalist (volume 171, June). "These pollinator species could suffer considerable reproductive costs if orchids inhibit mating opportunities." To investigate this issue the researchers performed a worldwide survey of about 200 insects that are fooled into mating with orchids. Interestingly they found that more than 90 per cent of these duped pollinators were from species with a haplodiploid mating system. Extraordinarily, females from haplodiploid species such as wasps, bees and ants can actually produce offspring without sperm from males.

"Even without mating these females can still reproduce, however all the offspring will be male," says Gaskett. "These consequent extra male wasps could be important pollinators for orchids, and as long as some normal sexual reproduction still occurs, the cost of orchid deception can be mitigated." "Despite the extreme demands they place on their pollinators, Tongue orchids are incredibly successful and have the highest pollination rate ever discovered in a sexually deceptive orchid. And while it's not widely known, Australian orchids are actually global leaders in sexual deception."

Orchids, gorgeous and elegant, are also some of the most deceitful flowers, having evolved sometimes elaborate ruses to lure pollinators.
Orchid Sexual Deceit Provokes Ejaculation (The American Naturalist)
In a new study of the most brazen of these botanical cheats, the species that entice pollinators with false promises of sex, scientists have discovered that one group of orchids has taken the art of manipulation to shameless heights.
Sexually deceptive orchids, as biologists have long known, look and can even smell so much like a female insect that males will try to mate with the flower in a sometimes vigorous process that can result in pollination. But scientists now report that the tongue orchids of Australia are such thoroughly convincing mimics of female wasps that males not only try to mate with them, but they actually do mate with them — to the point of ejaculation.
“It’s always been described as pseudocopulation,” said Anne Gaskett, a graduate student at Macquarie University in Australia and the lead author of the study. “But it looked like true copulation to me.”
The discovery that orchids can induce such an extreme response is more than just bizarre natural history, because biologists have always assumed that the sexual misrepresentations of orchids were harmless to the duped males, no more than a comical exercise in frustration.
Yet the study, published last month in The American Naturalist, suggests a potentially huge cost to the wasps.
“If males waste all their sperm on orchids,” Ms. Gaskett asked, “what have they got to offer a real female?”
Beyond that, why, scientists asked, would orchids do such an evolutionarily foolish thing? Why would a flower evolve to compromise the ability of its pollinator to reproduce?
So many orchids treat their pollinators so nastily, with false promises of food and sex or the occasional dunking of insect visitors into bucket-shaped petals full of liquid, that naturalists have puzzled over the relationship for more than a century.
Darwin was so consumed by the odd interactions that after “The Origin of Species,” his next book was an entire volume on the subject, “The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects.”
In the case of the tongue orchids and their dupe wasps, at least, scientists say they may have deciphered why these flowers abuse their visitors: the treatment of the wasps may, in fact, be very much to the orchids’ advantage.
In wasps, the sex of an individual, male or female, is determined by a peculiar genetic system known as haplodiploidy. In this system, females are produced by an egg from their mother and a sperm from their father. But males have just half of the genetic complement and are produced by females from just an egg, without the aid of a male or a single drop of sperm.
For an orchid that is pollinated just by males, depleting sperm that would be used just to produce females might not be a drawback at all. It could even be a plus, because some female wasps without sufficient sperm tend to produce more sons — or, from the orchid’s perspective, more pollinators.
Increasing the numbers of males, scientists say, could even make males a bit more desperate and less discriminating — another potential advantage for an orchid trying to fool a male into giving the not-quite-right-looking fake female sitting immobile inside its petals a try.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15wasp.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Arare Orchid Called Chapman's Orchid found in Silsbee, Texas

Chapman's orchid has been found on The Nature Conservancy's Roy E. Larsen
Sandyland Sanctuary... near Silsbee.

The orchid is bright yellow orange in color, with multiple blooms densely
packed on a narrow stem. The flower is pollinated by large butterflies,
including swallowtails.The Chapman's orchid has been found in only three
counties in Texas, including Hardin, Orange and Tyler. It also grows in
southeastern Georgia and northern Florida.

The orchid is found in wet areas of sphagnum moss and acidic soils within
longleaf pine savannas. Nature Conservancy staff member Bob Boensch,
conservation forest technician, located the orchids in an area of the
preserve following a prescribed burn. Dense vegetation and debris from
Hurricane Rita has made finding plants such as the orchid a challenge.

Chapman's orchid was first described in 1903 when a specimen was collected
in Apalachicola, Florida, and was named after the collector, A.W. Chapman.
For many years, there was debate over whether the plant was a separate
species or a hybrid of two other similar-looking orchids. Based on its
pollination and studies of populations of the orchid, scientists determined
that the Chapman's orchid is a separate and unique species.

The wetland savannas where the orchid grows are considered among the most
threatened and rare plant communities in the entire state. Before East
Texas was densely settled, these savannas were kept open by frequent
natural fires and were lush with grasses, wildflowers and a scattering of
longleaf pine trees."

URL : http://www.thehardincountynews.com/news/2007/0822/News/023.html

Enjoy!!

Steve Peralta
www.1888Orchids.com

Vanilla Orchids - Vanilla planifolia

Vanilla orchids... now cultivated in Madagascar, Tahiti and Indonesia. New plantations... also... in the Caribbean and Africa.
... The vine grows in the shade of a host tree, like citrus or cacao...It... takes nine months for the blossoms to mature into the... green beans. After the beans are harvested, they go through a... curing process that canalso take up to nine months. The quality of the vanilla bean depends moston how well it has been cured...
Vanilla extract is made by immersing vanilla beans in alcohol. Vanillapaste and vanilla powder, long used in Europe, are now being introduced toAmerican...
The labor involved in bringing the completed vanilla bean to the tablemakes it the second-most expensive spice in the world [first is saffron]"
URL : http://www.pioneerlocal.com/508275,pp-vanilla-081607-s2.article

Enjoy,

Steve Peralta
http://www.1888orchids.com/

"Vanilla planifolia
... Tropical Americas, not native to Florida but occasionally found in the
southernmost part of the state.
...
leaves... oblong to lanceolate to 8 inches long, on short petioles or leaf
stems.
The vine branch or stem is stout, green and clings to host.
The roots are thick and covered with velamen... clings to the host without
damaging it... absorbing water.
Flowers... yellowish to greenish... sepals and petals to 2 1/2 inches long,
the lip three-lobed.
... flowers appear in groups or individually when the vine is mature...
Pollination in the wild is by bees and hummingbirds [! ?], but by hand for
commercial production.
The fruit... an orchid seed pod... harvested for culinary use while still
green... undergoes an extensive process of curing to develop the... vanilla.

Hardiness: USDA Hardiness Zones 10-11, damaged by temperatures below 50
degrees.

Height/width: Vine is sparse in leaf and flower and can grow to 100 feet
long in the wild. Size is controlled for commercial and hobbyist purposes.

Light: Part, shifting shade, such as found under a tree canopy.

... Vanilla orchids are epiphytes...

Notes and culture: ... The Mexican Totonaca [Totonac / Totonacos] Indians
reportedly were the first to grow the... pod. The Totonaca[o]s... conquered
by the Aztecs... combined... spice with cacao and honey for a beverage...
Cortez is reported to have taken vanilla with him on his return to Spain.
It is said that Thomas Jefferson brought vanilla to the United States.
Today, most of the commercial production of vanilla is in Mexico and
Madagascar...
there are new vanilla plantations under development in Hawaii.

Vanilla orchids are easy to grow.
They require warm temperatures, high humidity and some shade, such as found
under a tree or in a shadehouse.
... orchid mix, fertilize lightly and frequently, and water if rain is in
short supply.
vanilla will produce flowers in the home garden, but the plants must be
mature, from 1 to 3 years old.
Flowers must be hand pollinated during the one day they are open.
Once pollinated, the pods will remain on the plants for up to nine months
before mature.
After harvesting the green pod, at least three months of curing is
necessary to produce the... flavor and aroma associated with vanilla."

URL : http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/dec/16/plant-profile/

illustration :
http://media.tcpalm.com/tcp/content/img/photos/2007/12/10/16SPLANTPROFILEFC-6161_t220.JPG

Vanilla and Viruses

If you test ten (10) Vanilla orchids for a viruses most likely all ten will carry a virus. A great many Vanilla orchids carry viruses. Why? Because most all Vanilla orchid plants are grown from cuttings, similar to reed stem Epidendrums. So if you want to grow a virus free Vanilla orchid, you will need to start one from seed.

Hope this helps.
Steve
1888Orchids.com

A Happy 1888Orchids.com Customer

This photo was sent to us by Mary Barnes of Dallas, Texas and shows two purple Phalaenopsis orchids set in her beautiful crystal planter. When Mrs. Barnes sent me this image, she wrote:
"Steve
Although the color shift does not do your orchids justice, I wanted you to see how beautiful they are in our home.
Thanks
Mary"
Thank you Mrs. Barnes!!!
Does anyone else have photos of orchids they received from 1888Orchids.com that you want to share with others, send images to the following email: 1800Orchids@gmail.com.

Virtually yours,
Steve
1888Orchids.com

Ecuagenera registers hybrids with RHS

Ecuagenera has recently registered a number of hybrids with RHS (RoyalHorticultural Society). These plants were named on the 21st of June in honor of those people who have worked in collaboration with Ecuagenera in a number of areas, including the lab, general labor and socially.
You can see some pictures at:
http://www.ecuagenera.com/epages/whitelabel4.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/ecuagenera/Categories/News/028

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ECUAGENERA

ECUAGENERA CO. LTDA.
HYPERLINK "http://www.ecuagenera.com/

Phone: 011 593 7 2255237
Fax: 011 593 7 2255236

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta

Two rare orchid species discovered in Phu Quoc - Malaxis calophylla

Two rare varieties [species] of orchid discovered on Phu Quoc...The orchid that has scientific name of Malaxis calophylla... Wildlife at Risk (WAR) has recently reported that two... species of orchid had been discovered on Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang in Vietnam.
They are Malaxis calophylla and a[A]phyllorchis M[m]ontana. This is thefirst time scientists have found... Malaxis calophylla orchid in Vietnam.Meanwhile, they still lack research data to evaluate the situation of theAphyllorchis M[m]ontana orchid in the country.
Scientists discovered only one sample of each kind [species] of orchid...
In a previous survey conducted in May 2007, another rare species oforchid... Paphiopedilum callosum was reported at Phu Quoc National Park.This was the first time scientists discovered the presence of an orchid onthis island.
Of the three varieties of orchid found on Phu Quoc, the Malaxis calophyllais reported for the first time in Vietnam while the Paphiopedilum callosumis being exploited in other regions of Vietnam and the preservation of allthree types of orchids is in serious jeopardy.
Surveys made at Phu Quoc National Park are part of a bigger preservationprogramme conducted by WAR in cooperation with Phu Quoc National Park sinceearly 2007. The major goal of this programme is protecting the naturalresources of the island, one of the important sites of biodiversity inVietnam."
URL / photo : "... Malaxis calophylla":
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/08/729646/

Ghost Orchid - Polyrrhiza lindenii

The ghost orchid... produced thirteen blossoms from July 7 through July29. Now, the "super ghost" as it is being called, is set to produce anadditional ten blossoms. Ghost orchids typically only produce one blossom per plant, per year....Ed Carlson, executive director of the sanctuary [Corkscrew Swamp]. "Ghost orchids are rare to begin with and none have ever been found with as manyblooms as this. This second round of blooms is a one of a kind event."
The ghost orchid is an extremely rare, epiphytic orchid that grows in asmall concentrated area of Southwest Florida. Special security measures arein place at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to protect the precious plant...
Orchid lovers have a window of three to four weeks to catch the latestghost orchid bloom. Visitation to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary increased by 200 percent during the first bloom in July, with orchid lovers coming fromacross the country. Visitors to the sanctuary will find spotting scopes foreasy close-up views set up along the sanctuary's boardwalk... the plant is150 feet from the boardwalk at a height of 45 feet....Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is located just northeast of Naples

URL : http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070809/20070809005856.html?.v=1

Enjoy,

Steve Peralta

1888Orchids.com

Endanger orchid in Yadon's piperia

Federal wildlife officials say preserving habitat areas for Yadon's piperia, an endangered perennial orchid that primarily grows in Monterey pine forests, could cost up to $13 million during the next 20 years.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service... released a draft economic analysisthat estimates the costs associated with conserving more than 2,000 acresof critical habitat for the endangered plant.
The study says it would cost $9.6 million to $12.9 million over the nexttwo decades to protect habitat areas for Yadon's piperia. In October, thefederal agency proposed designating 2,306 acres as critical habitat forthe... orchid.
About 84 percent of the proposed habitat area consists of private lands onthe Peninsula and other parts of the county. State land comprises 9 percentof proposed habitat area, while 7 percent belongs to local governmentagencies.
Of the private lands, about 25 percent is owned or managed by the ElkhornSlough Foundation and the Del Monte Forest Foundation...
Yadon's piperia, which grows small white flowers on a slender stalk, waslisted as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1998.
The proposed critical habitat area was designated in response to a lawsuitfiled by the Center for Biological Diversity against the federal wildlifeagency.
Federal law requires that wildlife officials consider economic and otherimpacts of proposed critical habitat decisions. If the benefits ofexcluding an area from critical habitat outweigh the benefits of includingit, the wildlife agency may exclude it."
URL : http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_6570700

Hawaii's Orchid Industry

Over 90 percent of Hawaii's orchid industry is on the Big Island, which is home to at least 65 orchid growers. The Hawaii Department of Agriculturereports that the Big Island's wholesale volume in 2006 was $15 million.

URL :http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2007/08/06/daily2.html?ana=from_rss

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta

Liu Huong Tzong - Taiwan Orchids Pioneer

Liu Huang Tzong-te, 74, is a pioneer in the export of Taiwan's...butterfly orchids....at 22, ... in Chiayi County... began helping his father with his orchidplants...
In those days, Japan was the most advanced nation in orchid culture, andLiu purchased many Japanese books and magazines on orchids. He took what helearned and often spread the information around in the most importantdomestic orchid publication of the day, "Taiwan Orchids". In those earlydays, very few people contributed to the magazine in Chinese, and most ofthe content was translated from the Japanese. Liu's insightful analysis ofissues related to orchid growing immediately attracted the attention ofthose in the industry in Taiwan.
... At 35, he was invited to serve as the chief judge for the OrchidProducer and Sellers Association, a post which he held for seven years.When he gave it up at age 42, he devoted himself to traveling the world tolearn about orchids, and to promoting orchid exports in Taiwan.
For over 20 years, the domestic market for butterfly orchids had beenoversaturated, and the development of exports had reached a bottleneck...butterfly orchids were selling at 3 for NT$100 ? little more than US$1 apiece. Farmers were simply getting no return for their labor. At that time,there was a huge demand in Japan for young plants... Liu developed areputation as a supplier, convincing the Japanese to purchase plants fromTaiwan. Exports topped 200,000 plants and many farmers were saved frombankruptcy, divorce or the loss of their livelihood.
URL : http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=83084&ctNode=7

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

New Orchid Species Discovered in Philippines

orchid variety... discovered on the western Philippines island of Palawan...apparently new species... an orchid belonging to the genus Coelogyne with"... white flowers with golden lip petals."The specimens are to be sent to the national museum in Manila and theChicago Field Museum...
Mount Matalingahan sits in a 120,000-hectare (296,400-acre) forest.Conservationists want the government to declare the site as a protectedarea for wildlife."
URL :http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=80239

Sincerely,

Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

"rare orchid [name, please !] has been [re-]discovered growing on the Roodekrans-Paardekraal ridge flanking the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden inJohannesburg...
Its recent discovery makes it the latest salvo in a battle between conservationists, developers and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture,Conservation and Environment to halt the remaining development on theecologically sensitive ridge.
The orchid subspecies, last seen in Gauteng in 1956, is the only known population...... endemic to SA, is on land earmarked to be developed as part of the Sugarbush housing estate development."
URL : http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story=20070731090455284

a paper by Chiron and Castro Neto which splits

These links are a little old, but still interesting:First, a paper by Chiron and Castro Neto which splits the Brazilian laelias into several genera, includingHadrolaelia, Hoffmannseggella, etc. Curiously, evenwhen Laelia is split up, most of the "Sophronitis" arestill placed in the same genus as Laelia tenebrosa andL. purpurata. Sophronitis cernua remains aSophronitis, but the large flowered "Sophronitis"become Hadrolaelias along with the big Laelias.http://members.xoom.alice.it/orchidnews/on17/paginas/vitor01eng.htmSecond, a response by van den Berg defending hisco-authors decision to lump all the Brazilian plantsin a broadly defined Sophronitis.http://members.xoom.alice.it/orchidnews/on20/pages/cassio01en.htmIt will certainly be interesting to see what furtherresearch brings.

blog deleted

blog entry no longer available.

The World Orchid Conference - January 23 to 27 in Miami, Florida

The World Orchid Conference...show, sale and symposium... Jan. 23 to 27 in Miami.
For $300... access to the show and... lectures, a ticket to the PremiereParty and the opening ceremony, and a commemorative goody bag. You canbring a companion for $150, minus the bag [smile...].
Single-day fees are... available.
To register or learn more, visit <http://www.19woc.com>http://www.19woc.com
URL : http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/living/17553593.htm

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

scientist jailed for smuggling more than 100... orchids into Britain

scientist jailed for smuggling more than 100... orchids into Britain hasbeen ordered to pay up more than ?100,000.
Pharmaceutical researcher... Sian Lim, 33, was caught smuggling...species... into Britain from his native Malaysia....Amongst the flowers [orchids]... one species that only grows in smallnumbers in a remote area of a national park in Sarawak in Malaysia....Six of the flowers [species]... are on the brink of extinction and can onlybe found on the slopes of Mount Kinabalu on the island of Borneo.
Two of the flowers [species] were... discovered in 1997 in the remoteIndonesian island of Sulawesi and are believed to be extinct because ofillegal collection...
126 specimens seized from... Lim fall into the CITES' "Category A"... theyare banned from all trade.
... Lim grows rare orchids in two greenhouses in the garden of his home inPutney, south west London, and exhibits at international shows.
He admitted 13 charges of smuggling rare orchids into Heathrow Airportalthough he claimed it was not for commercial gain.
... The orchids found by customs officers in Lim's luggage at Heathrow whenhe flew in from Malaysia on June 2nd, 2004...
Lim was jailed for four months in January last year at Isleworth Crown Court.
He was ordered to pay ?110,331 - the proceeds of his trade - when hereturned to court. He was also ordered to pay ?15,000 in costs, includingtowards research by experts at Kew Gardens.
If the money is not paid he will have to serve a further three year prisonsentence"
URL :
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=KI2740202C&news_headline=scientist_fined_for_smuggling_orchids

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

New "Wasp" Orchids Tempt Male Bugs

Cymbidium cyperifolium - Oliver Sparrow replies

It is very widespread, from East Nepal to Viet Nam. It was named by Lindley in1833. It likes shaded semi-terrestrial locations, typically where leaf mouldhas heaped up against tree trunks or rocks. The Himalayas have dense Quercusand Castanopsis woodlands at 1200-1600m (oak and chestnut-ish rough barked,slow growing plants) and this is where it thrives, in patches of sun-litfairly open ground. It flowers late in the year, usually as the cold sets inaround November. Not the loveliest of Cymbidiums, but quite pleasing.
The Chinese prize this and C. ensifolium for abstract reasons to do withpurity and Dao, and some of the rarer cultivars sell for enormous sums. (Bythat I mean in excess of US$1 million, according to Nature a few weeks ago.)
Snake in the glasshouse.As a PS: about a year ago, I noted that I found a 20 cm snake skin in a sealedUK glasshouse when cleaning it out.( Australian commentators asked whether"you could call that a snake?") However, last weekend, when fertilising, alarge (easily 4 cm diameter) body slid from one bark plaque to another. I haveno idea what it is or where it comes from (or indeed, what it eats!) By itsdrab grey scales, it could be a UK grass snake that somehow strayed in, but itis very much on the large (and short) side for that.
The resident frogs (red, foreign, presumably entered in a plant) areapparently undisturbed by it. I am not much bothered by snakes, but it doesslow one down when repotting large plants! Thoughts?
Roots love AstroturfIn the same post, I also mentioned that I had backed an orchid house withAstroturf, into which roots had eagerly grown. This provoked skepticalcomment. I can now tell you that Astroturf is much favoured by Vandas,Trichoglottis, Aerides, Phalaenopsis and pretty much anything with extensiveaerial roots. Coelogyne mayeriana has scrambled up it to hit the roof in ahuge patch. Roots tend to grow in straight lines, following the weave, givingan oddly rectilinear effect. Vanillas like to grow up the outside of rolledAstroturf tubes. However, don't fertilise onto it or you get black A/turf.______________________________
Oliver Sparrow+44 (0)20 7736 9716www.chforum.org

Spring Flowering Orchids in the Appalachians

orchids in the Southern Appalachians...
spring-flowering pink and yellow lady's slippers...
numerous orchid species flower in the area, beginning in early springthrough late fall. Summer seems to be the heyday for some of the lesserknown... varieties...
The.. magenta flowers of grass pink, Calopogon tuberosus, first appear inlate spring, but the plants continue blooming well into summer. The commonname refers to the grass-like leaves... "calopogon" means "beautifulbeard"... referring to the yellow bristles on the end of the flower lip,and "tuberosus" describes the... structure on the roots...
Unlike most orchids, the lip is located at the top of the bloom. Itcontains yellow hairs (beard) which attract the pollinator. When apollinator, such as a bee, of sufficient weight lands on the lip, thishinged structure drops down, bringing the bee into contact with thepollen-bearing structures resulting in pollen exchange. Grass pink growsprimarily along the coastal plain, but also occurs in and around themountains.
A close relative, pale grass pink, Calopogon pallidus, is restricted mainlyto the coastal plain.
Rosebud orchid, Cleistes divaricata, was given the generic name meaning"closed" because the tube-like flower is open only on one end. Anothercommon name, spreading pogonia, refers to the bronze-coloredupward-reaching sepals.Two white or pale-pink upper petals sit atop a third protruding lip-petalwhich is decorated in dark pink with deep purple veining.
... Rosebuds grow in the mountains and coastal plain. There is muchscientific debate over distinct speciation between inhabitants of the tworegions...
Mid-summer is the realm of Platanthera. This... genera... is represented bymore than a dozen species in North Carolina, and this number increases whencounting the frequent [natural] hybrids. The group is often referred to asfringed orchids because several members have finely divided (fringed)margins around the lower lip.
... some members lacking this trait are called fringeless. Traits in commoninclude a fused elongated spur protruding from the rear of the lower petalor lip, large anthers which resulted in the scientific name "platanthera"from Greek words meaning "wide anther" and the characteristic floweringarrangement, consisting of a cluster of many small flowers... a raceme.
... the blooms of various species of platanthera present vivid colors,ranging from pure white to cream to green to purple to yellow to orange...
Pollination... by long-tongued butterflies and moths which are able toreach the nectary in the back of the spur....in his book Native Orchids of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, StanleyL. Bentley describes in detail 52 species from the... region"
URL :
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20070723/NEWS/70723003/1031/FEATURES/NEWS/Southern_Appalachians_home_to_numerous_orchid_species

Cephalanthera rubra Orchid Rediscovered in Gjerstad

A rare orchid, Cephalanthera rubra (R?d Skogsfrue), has been rediscoveredin Aust-Agder. It had not been seen for 56 years...
In 1951 it was discovered near the Gjerstad Lake in Aust-Agder by twobotanists, but had not been sighted again since then.
It is on the Norwegian list of endangered plants...
The Directorate for Nature Conservation has allocated NOK 1.8 million forthe protection of the orchid until the year 2010."
URL : http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=91440

OrchidWiz Special Offer

For a limited time OrchidWiz is giving a discount of 20% to orchid-business users including employees of nurseries and orchid-supply businesses. This offer expires September 30.

Encyclopedia 4.0 was just released. In the past three weeks the program has been installed in almost 500 computers and so far it has received outstanding feedback. To take advantage of the 20% discount please follow these steps:

1) Navigate to http://www.orchidwiz.com/servlet/Detail?no=2
2) Click “Add To Shopping Cart”
3) Select “Check Out”
4) Click “I am a new customer and continue”
5) Enter your name, name of the business, and address information. At the end of this screen enter “BUSINESS” where it says promotion code.
6) The system will take 20% off, reducing the price by $49.

If you have high-speed internet you may also download a PowerPoint demo available at www.orchidwiz.com by clicking the respective link on the right hand side above the address.

Over 200 AOS Judges and more than 150 orchid nurseries currently use OrchidWiz Encyclopedia. For this latest release we received 13,000 photos contributed by volunteers including thousands of photos of awarded plants. For the list of sources used in OrchidWiz please consult the web page www.orchidwiz.com.

New in OrchidWiz Encyclopedia 4.0:

- The user interface has been completely re-written to implement navigation via a tab control and also to resize each analysis window to fit in a 1024 x 768 or greater screen resolution. This allows for more viewing space which was needed to expand functionality.

- About 20,500 orchid images, versus the previous 8,500. The list of images includes over 13,000 contributed by volunteers. Volunteers contributed only photos which they themselves took (every volunteer signed a release form). The list includes 2,500 photos of awarded cultivars which are now featured in the Awards window.

- Comprehensive species taxonomic and culture data from Charles Baker.
- Ability to search the titles of articles in the AOS Orchids and Orchid Digest bulletins.
- Hybridizers’ (Originators’) full names and addresses. Also, users now have the ability to list all other orchids hybridized by the same person.
- The “Gallery” analysis, previously only accessed from the Offspring window, has now been included in several other places throughout the program. For example, the user can now display a gallery of orchids hybridized by a certain person.
- Pronunciations for genera and common species names.
- Compare hybrid photo with photos of top species in the background, all in the same screen.
- Many new reports were added, especially for those analyses called “List Most…” accessed from the top menu.
- Ability to print selected awards only.
- Genealogy pie charts for unregistered hybrids (called from “Find Cross”).
- Information about photo contributors (where provided): name, company, etc.
- Green-pod harvest times.
- Slide show, accessed from the Gallery window or from the Image Search window.
- All awards up to and including the AOS Awards Quarterly March 2007.
All registrations up to and including the March-April 2007 International Register of Orchid Hybrids (Sander’s).

We urge you to take advantage of this opportunity.

Best wishes,

- The team at OrchidWiz

OrchidWiz Encyclopedia 4.0

OrchidWiz... Encyclopedia 4.0...number of orchid images available... nearly 20,500...
orchid species cultivation data sourced from the work of Charles Baker withhis permission...Mr. Baker is a former meteorologist for the National Weather Service...His compilation work done over the last two decades...
You can search the AOS bulletins and AOS magazines [issues of the AOSBulletin and Orchids ?] by author or title....OrchidWiz, LLC, is a software company based in Miami Shores, Florida. Thecompany develops computer programs for the orchid-growing community.OrchidWiz Encyclopedia software is used... in 33 countries. Over 200American Orchid Society judges and more than 150 orchid nurseries currentlyuse OrchidWiz."
URL : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/7/prweb539193.htm

Yosemite Bog Orchid Discovered in Yosemite Park

70 years elapsed after George Henry Grinnell collected the first specimens in 1923 before... botanists rediscovered its location in 1993...
two U.S. Geological Survey botanists and a colleague at the New York StateMuseum have identified the orchid as a new species, the Yosemite bog-orchid(Platanthera yosemitensis)... a recent publication in the journal of theCalifornia Botanical Society, Madro?o.
... Peggy Moore, a USGS plant ecologist in El Portal, Calif.... one of thebotanists who identified the orchid....Moore and fellow USGS botanist Alison Colwell... had noticed the anomalousdistribution in the plant guide Flora of North America of a southernRockies bog-orchid that was also reported from Yosemite National Park inCalifornia....Beginning in 2003... Colwell and Moore relocated the site where others hadcollected the orchid, mapped additional sites where they discovered itgrowing, and searched several plant collections (herbaria) to examinebog-orchid specimens. ... in consultation with... Charles Sheviak, Curatorof Botany at the New York State Museum, they determined the orchid was anew, undescribed species.
Sheviak [said]... "I've... have described other new species of Platanthera,so I'm used to being surprised. However, to find such a strikinglydistinctive plant in such a well-known locality is truly astonishing. Thefact that it appears to be confined to such a small geographic area isfurthermore unique among related species."
Yosemite bog-orchid is known currently from only nine sites within YosemiteNational Park, all on the granitic upland south of Yosemite Valley, betweenthe main stem and the South Fork of the Merced River. As the orchid's rangeis understood currently, it is the only orchid species endemic to theSierra Nevada of California....tiny flowers...Yosemite bog-orchids have a strong musk component that, according to theauthors, has been likened by various observers to a "corral of horses,asafetida, strong cheese, human feet, sweaty clothing, or simplydisagreeable."...
in the upland area south of Yosemite Valley... This area, largely free ofice during the most recent glacial events in the last two million years,contains at least seven species of plants known only from the central andsouthern Sierra Nevada

URL : http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1706

Ghost Orchids [Dendrophylax lindenii]

ghost orchids [Dendrophylax lindenii] have a habit of walking off in thebags and baskets of orchid enthusiasts. They can be sources of profit orprivate enjoyment....In the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, 20 miles outside of Naples... down aboardwalk that winds through sawgrass marsh and some of the state's lastremaining old-growth cypress forest...
ghost orchids are virtually invisible except when they flower. They do thisinfrequently and irregularly.
They are... difficult to cultivate, and occur naturally only in SouthwestFlorida and Cuba [and the Bahamas ?]... While researching The Orchid Thief,author Susan Orlean spent months tramping the backcountry and didn't see asingle one....a spray of brilliant white on a bald cypress tree 150 feet distant, perhaps60 feet high on the trunk.
The spray turned out to be nine flowers, each as big as a child's palm,with narrow petals and a broad lip from which descended two long taperedtendrils...
A series of frosts in the late 1980s and early 1990s killed many of theCorkscrew orchids. Some survivors were stolen by enthusiasts [poachers !].
... Mike Owen, a botanist from the nearby Fakahatchee Strand... said he'snever seen a ghost orchid taller than 23 feet tall, or with more than threeflowers....the ghost orchid... can be pollinated only by a giant moth that flies onlyat night.
''The survival of the ghost orchid as a species is completely dependent, asfar as we know, on one species of moth, the giant sphinx,'' Owen said.
The giant sphinx moth feeds only on two kinds of flowers, moon flowers andghost orchids, Owen said. 'It has a six-inch wingspan and a six-inchproboscis. It's sometimes dubbed `the flying tongue' . . . and it's flyingaround the swamp at night trying to detect these flowers.''
The flowers emit what Owen... dubbed an ''odoriferous chum slick,''stronger at night, to attract the giant sphinx moth to their nectar. Itsticks its tongue deep inside the flower to reach the nectar, picking up apacket of pollen in process, and then it ``sips up all that high energysugar that fuels its flight to the next flower, like jet fuel.''
Owen has cataloged more than 300 ghost orchids at the Fakahatchee Strand;around 600 are in Big Cypress and about 60 are in the Panther Preserve.Nobody knows how many are growing in the smaller Corkscrew Swamp.
... everything had to go exactly according to plan to cause this particularghost orchid to come into being 30 to 50 years ago (judging by theextensive root system); and at some more recent point a view-obstructingcypress branch had to fall...
[Maryanne Biggar] stared at it for a while. Then -- scared of losing theflower for the forest -- ``I took my shoes off and pointed them in a linewith where I was looking.''...Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary volunteers had trained a telescope on the flowersso that visitors could see them in perfect detail. The number of visitors-- which drops during the sweltering summer months -- has surged....More maddened enthusiasts are on the way, rumored to be flying in from allover. The flowers, up for now, will drop off over the next week."
URL : http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/173864.html

Blooming Ghost Orchid found...

The ghost blooms in June, July and August...Sightings are rare... navigating the swampy wilds of the FakahatcheeStrand, an 85,000-acre linear state preserve in the Everglades.
... the news that a ghost orchid in full flower is perched high in a baldcypress tree just 150 feet off the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp in CollierCounty is... amazing to those who have seen them and those who have soughtthem.
?... I?m surprised to say the least,? said Susan Orlean, who wrote... ?TheOrchid Thief,? published in 1998. The search for the ghost orchid is acentral theme in the book, which detailed the exploits of John Laroche ofNaples, a real-life thief of orchids, including the elusive ghost.
Orlean began researching the book in 1994, but to this day has never seen ablooming ghost orchid...Orlean spent hours tromping through the innards of the Fakahatchee Strandin her search....Her book was the basis for the 2002 movie ?Adaptation,? in which actorChris Cooper portrayed Laroche and Meryl Streep played Orlean. TheFakahatchee Strand was the setting for part of the movie, where park rangerMike Owen has monitored ghost orchids and other protected orchids... foralmost 14 years.
Owen returned three of the ghost orchids ? among the 84 total orchidsLaroche poached Dec. 21, 1993 ? to the Fakahatchee. The next June one ofthem bloomed, marking the first time Owen ever saw a ghost orchid in fullflower.... The ghost has no leaves. ?All it is is a mass of roots withchlorophyll,? he said. The plant takes 15 to 20 years to bloom and its onlypollinator is the giant sphinx moth, he said....Clyde Butcher... black-and-white photographer of the Everglades, went intothe Fakahatchee in 1999 and came out with his now-famous photo of asolitary ghost orchid bloom....The ghost orchid at Corkscrew Swamp is 60 feet in the air...Its height may keep it safe from poachers [hopefully !].
Another ghost orchid that bloomed just 100 feet from the one Butcherphotographed was stolen in 2005, Owen said.The poachers chopped the top 18 inches off the tree, including the bloom."
URL :http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS0105/307100010/1075

Ghost Orchid

"For the first time in 12 years a ghost orchid has been found bloomingwithin the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in northern Collier County.
Unfortunately [or fortunately !], the bald cypress tree to which the orchidis attached is 150 feet away from the boardwalk and the orchid is 45 feetabove the ground. It will be difficult for viewers to see, but the parkemployees have set up a viewing area for people to use."
URL :http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070710/NEWS0105/307100010/1075

Regards,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

Panama Orchids

Hey,
I translated an article about orchids in Panama using Systransoft.com so the translation may not be the greatest but it is an interesting article about orchids of Panama.

Here it is:
Easy to cultivate. The orquídeas are strong plants and in Panama it has more than 1600 native species, of which many are in extinction danger, by the indiscriminate way as they remove them from its natural means. Caesar Cubilla, president of the Association of Orquideología of Panama, explained that to cultivate orquídeas, first that there are to know is if the type of plant is of cold, heat or shade.
After east knowledge is had, the others do not have science, these are strong plants that they do not require of many cares, added the expert.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE CARE OF THE PLANTS According to Mr. Cubilla, the orquídeas require of an installment to foliar weekly of fortification, growth and flowering. As it is known the handling, installments can be used that are specific for the flowering.
Other important elements are: ventilation, illumination, fixation, and transplant.
As far as the fixation, one is due to have well-taken care of of which the plant is well fixed, otherwise, the roots do not adhere to the base where it has been placed.
If the orquídea blooms in January, it is due to begin to feed well from November so that it gives the best flowering.
Although the plant is of sun, does not have to leave long time under this one, because it is probable that it dies.
It is recommended to make a orquideario of three levels, where the orquídeas of sun are placed, above; those of shade, in means, and those of cold, down. In this way, they protect themselves to each other.

CHOOSING THE ORQUIDEAS
First she knows the conditions of his breeding grounds or patios, soon she chooses the adaptable species to these.
She never buys a plant by impulse.
She does not buy plants that you cannot administer or take care of.
She recommends herself to concentrate in some sorts or types of orquídeas.
Finally, she does not forget the space available in his residence.

If you can read Spanish, here's the Spanish article:
http://www.diaadia.com.pa/archivo/07082007/etcetera.html

Orchid Species Employ Deceit for Pollination - Like a Man Faking an Accent

Approximately 10 percent of orchid species employ deceit for pollination.
A rare South African orchid, Disa nivea, always grows amid colonies of amember of the foxglove family, whose flower it mimics. It also exploits thetarget plant's pollinator, a fly. Expecting a nectar reward, the fly comesup empty on the orchid, but since there are plenty of genuine nectar plantsaround, it gets fooled again and again.
The spider orchids, Brassia, have evolved showy flowers with spiderycharacteristics to fool the several species of wasps which stuff theirnests with paralyzed spiders. Thinking she has found victims, the femalewasp repeatedly stings the flowers, pollinating the orchid...
pseudocopulation. Each species of Orphrys orchid is pollinated by the maleof a particular bee or wasp. The orchid flower somewhat resembles thefemale, but its velvety texture and the sexual odor it mimics are the mainattractants.The females of these bees and wasps emerge later than the males, and, notcoincidentally, the orchid blooms before females are active. The male landson the flower and goes through the motions of copulation until it realizesit isn't getting anywhere and leaves. In the process it transfers pollen.It never learns, and will continue trying to mate with the orchid until thefemale wasps emerge."
URL : http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/22/drive_survive/

World Orchid Conference - Miami, Florida January 23-27, 2008

World Orchid Conference, Miami... will bring... an economic impact of about $18 million... according to organizers.
The 19th World Orchid Conference, Jan. 23-27, 2008, is returning to theUnited States after 25 years in locations including Dijon, France; ShahAlam, Malaysia; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The flower gathering is to be at the Sheraton Miami Mart Hotel andConvention Center....Held... every three years in a different international location...
Organizers said they expect nearly 200,000 attendees.
URL :http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?Feed=ACBJ&Date=20070628&ID=7100891

Dendrobium densiflorum

Here is a special orchid that is in bloom right now....















The 200 varieties of Dendrobium orchids push in a wild state in the vast triangle formed by the Himalayas, the South of Japan and the Zealand News. Dendron comes from the Greek and means “tree”, “organic” means life - its name points out its way of pushing in nature: preferably on trees (épiphyte), but sometimes also on rocks (lithophyte).

The varieties coming from cold areas are acclimatized very well in our apartments. The dendrobium orchid is an easy joint tenant who does not ask too many care and constitutes with him only a work of art in each part. It is not for only in English this plant is called “fart seedling”, so much its presence is comparable with that of a pet.

When they are in nature, the orchises open out thanks to the differences in temperature that there is between the day and the night. It is thus necessary to take care to place your orchid plant in a place where the temperature is fresher the night than the day. You can for example place your orchis in front of a window. This precaution to be taken has all its importance because it is in fact the variations in temperature which induce the flowering of your orchises.

Place it in at a place which you air regularly. The orchids like to have a little air. But attention, their stem is fragile! It is also necessary to take care that it is not in full cold air draft, especially the winter.
Some is the Dendrobium to which you will succumb, this orchis will always surprise you: initially by its form, a such torch with the spangled flowers, supported by a green foliage, and also by its petals with the splendid reasons, of a color gradation blades or on the contrary very contrasted, such as for example of the yellow petals to the labelle pink, or of the white flowers in the middle purple.

The labellum one hangs the glance: sensual, corrugated, powerful and arousing, very “Girl Power”.
Chinese medicine concocts infusions starting from certain varieties of Dendrobium orchid to support digestion and to nourish the “yin” (female) of the man. Over there, this house plant is most beautiful of the gifts which one can offer to a woman.

The dendrobium - of which there exists more than 1200 cultivated varieties - became, around 1900, a house plant. When a man offered this orchis to a woman, it was to express passion that it inspired to him…. even if that were sometimes regarded as improper because of the erotic aspect of the plant due to its voluptuous “lip”.

NEW orchid species discovered in Western Australia

Orchids are truly amazing - they are highly evolved plants!

For example, to encourage pollination, the flowers of many orchids have evolved to resemble female insects to encourage the male insect to pollinate the flower. The referenced article is short but it is exciting first of all to know that a new orchid species has been discovered and second, that an orchid flower can evolve to resemble an insect thus encouraging pollination. Not only does the flower resemble the female insect, it emits a scent, much like a pheramone, to dupe the male insect in believing it is copulating with an actual female insect. Amazing! Here is the link to the article. Enjoy!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22012555-1702,00.html

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta

Importing Orchid Plants - New CITES Rules

To all interested in the subject of Orchid species and hybrids as imports or exports,
Recent changes in CITES requirements have made itdifficult for nurseries, and hobbyists alike tonot only import plants from foreign countriesdirectly but even acquire them from nurseries inthe country in which hobbyists and professional growers live.
In the US for example the requirements are that anursery must now have a master permit. Everyplant to be exported whether it is a species orhybrid must be approved by the US Fish andWildlife authorities with information on thepropagation methods (whether from seed, cuttingsor cloning techniques) if not then whom theplants were purchased from with receipts, potsizes of plants in stock, annual production,number of plants to be exported each year,whether parental stock is maintained and howmany, from seed or cuttings etc. and number of years in production.
Imagine filling out such a permit (in my case ittook 250 hours) and then imagine it taking 9months to a year to get it. The idea is that onceyou get this permit single issue copies arepurchased in advance and the nursery owner canfill them out when orders are received and shipthem out rather quickly compared to the oldsystem of waiting 3-6 months for a single usepermit. In the mean time orders cannot beprocessed and commercial growers are put insituation of economic hardship. Adding any newplants to your permit requires all the samedetailed information, costs a lot and there is noguarantee that the permits will arrive in atimely manner. Several US growers have given upon exports and many more will follow suit.
Hybrids have become another problem, as one hasto either be approved for specific hybrids on themaster permit or have to be approved for specificspecies that make up the hybrid. At the momentyou have to list on your permit the species thatmake up the hybrids that you want to export. Thistakes a great deal of time and is reallycounterproductive. It often requires 20 to 35hours to complete a permit. The US Fish andWildlife service has come up with a way ofamending your permit to accept hybrids but itstill requires reporting and is limited to certain hybrids.
The various countries management authorities andCITES officials are, I believe unaware of thegreat advances in the laboratory production oforchids that have taken place within the past fewyears. Nurseries are now able to reproduce inreasonable numbers those plants that were onceconsidered difficult or even impossible toproduce. The continued over-regulation ofartificially propagated plants and the nurseriesthat produce them is in my opinion a completewaste of CITES resources. The entire reason CITESwas created in the first place was to protectwild populations of living organisms that werethreatened by trade. This is what it says in thefirst paragraph on<http://www.cites.org/>www.cites.org home page,?CITES (the Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is aninternational agreement between governments. Itsaim is to ensure that international trade inspecimens of wild animals and plants does notthreaten their survival.? If anything the rapidartificial production and propagation of orchidplants helps to ensure that wild stock willremain where it is. Many of our nurseries arereally no longer trading in wild stock at all. Why over-regulate it?
Recent examples of how things have changed can befound in PERU where no wild collecting for exportis allowed. All plants must now be produced atthe approved nurseries from seed or division ofestablished stock. Phragmipedium kovachii wouldnever have been allowed for export legally exceptfor the work of serious nursery owners and thePeruvian government. By allowing a few plants tobe collected and used for seed propagation viatissue culture these plants are now all over theworld and the demand for wild plants no longerexists. Other countries like Ecuador and Brazil are following suit.

If continued restriction and over-regulationcontinues in its present state there will be lessand less plants available and eventually thehobby itself will be threatened. Orchid Societiesmemberships would begin to decline, as therewould be no new plant material for hobbyists tobe interested in. Nurseries interested in growingand exporting species or hybrids have alreadydeclined in The US and other parts of the globe.The process or acquiring export permits hasbecome so onerous that some nurseries have chosento give up their export business. Many withoutthe ability to export will not survive.
There is an important synergy between OrchidSocieties, hobbyists and commercial growers.Without commercial growers there would be fewhobbyists. Without hobbyists there would be noorchid societies. The articles written about neworchid species or hybrids would fall on deaf earsif the plants being written about were notavailable to hobbyists in a legal, artificiallypropagated manner. We are all interdependent onone another and it would be good if we spoke with one harmonized voice.
Nurseries (world-wide) are experiencingtightening restrictions and it would seem thatCITES officials want a reduction in trade of any kind.
No one can argue with the good intentions ofCITES namely the protection of species in thewild. No one can argue that each country?sdepartment of agriculture has the important jobof controlling the introduction of new pests anddiseases through the importation of plants. Theseare not issues that nursery owners havecontentions with. What we are concerned about andwhat we hope Orchid Societies and hobbyists wouldshow their concern with is a movement withinCITES in what many growers feel is the wrongdirection and that is the increasing regulationand control in the trade of truly artificially propagated plants.It is time for change regarding trade of Orchidsand other plants that are truly artificiallypropagated. The direction of this reform wouldinclude a radical change in the way that Orchids are regulated in trade.
My proposal is simple in concept:
1.Protect all wild orchids by elevating the wholegroup to appendix 1 status. 100 years ago therewere 1.5 billion people on the planet. Todaythere are some 6.5 billion and in a little morethan 40 years that number will grow to over 9billion people demanding land and timber.Tropical rainforests are now estimated to befalling at the rate of 5 acres per 2.4 seconds.Protecting all orchids to the highest level willbe required sooner or later. Why not make the change now?
2.Certify nurseries that are truly growing, orbuying for resale orchids that are artificiallypropagated. Let those certified nurseries tradefreely with a certification number or stamp whichwould be recognized and accepted by all signatorymembers of the CITES treaty. Nurseries that arealready certified for export would automaticallybe given the Certification stamp or number toallow free trade of the plants they produce or trade in.
These changes include not allowing any wildcollection for export of any Orchid plants unless for the following reasons:
1. A nursery in the country of origin wouldwant to add a small number of wild plants totheir breeding stock say 5 ?12 plants of anygiven species. These wild collected plants wouldhave to have approval and supervision from thecountry of origin management authorities and thatthe collection of said plants would not provedetrimental to the wild population. These plantscould not be exported but used only for breedingstock. Only seedlings or mature plants derived from seed could be exported.
2. In the case of a rescue operation whereorchid plants are going to be destroyed due todevelopment the plants could be collected withgovernment permission given to approved nurseriesin the country of origin. Once the plants arecollected they could not be sold for a period of2-3 years when the plant would then becomeestablished and would have grown out of thejungle growth. These plants would then trade on aCITES permit as rescued and would require thatdistinction on the plant labels and any CITES orPHYTO paperwork with actual import permit numbersand dates along with the ?rescued? designation.These requirements would only apply to theoriginal export from the country of origin, afterthat the plants could be traded without permitsbut would require that only CITES certifiednurseries could trade or re-export them.
3. Appendix I, or Appendix II? Why have 2 permits? Giving all wildorchid plants (only) Appendix 1 status wouldeliminate the need for export permits for artprop plants at all as wild plants would becompletely protected from collecting andreselling except by the processes outlined above.This would in effect remove truly art prop plantsfrom the treaty except for the certification ofthe nursery in question and the plants itproduces or trades in from other certified nurseries.
Flasked seedlings:
There is a lot of confusion about flasked Orchidseedlings and what is legal and what is not. TheCITES treaty clearly states that any and allorchid seedlings traded in vitro are exempt fromCITES regulations as long as a phyto accompaniesthem. Different countries have differentinterpretations as to what this means. The US forinstance will allow flasked seedlings of anyorchids into the country but once they come outof flasks one must be able to prove that theparents were legal. This is an impossible taskand flawed in terms of legality. If illegalaliens come into the US and have a child thatchild is an automatic US citizen. Plants IN VITROshould be considered in the same light. They arein the final definition of the treatyArtificially propagated plants. I am notcondoning the illegal collecting of wild orchidplants for the purpose of exporting seedlings inflask, I am just saying that it is impossible tocontrol or regulate the movement of seedlings inflask under the present definitions of the treaty.

Certified nursery proposal in need of your help.
The biggest change I would like to propose isthat nurseries be certified for export ofArtificially propagated plants and that thisCertification would allow Orchid plants soproduced to be traded without a formalcomplicated, highly detailed permit but justrequire a CITES nursery certificate number orstamp in a CITES permits place. The program wouldstill be under CITES control but the need forlengthy accounting for any of the plants producedshould be greatly reduced or better yeteliminated. Nurseries that have been dealing withmanagement authorities for many years should havean easy transition into the new process.Nurseries that are applying for a newcertification would have to go through acertification process in the beginning but as anursery?s inventory grows by propagation oracquisition (this would be for art prop materialonly as wild collecting would no longer beallowed) there would be no need to keep reportingall of the art prop stock acquired, bred ordivided to the management authorities.
My worldwide goal is for interested orchidgrowers whether hobbyist or commercial and Orchidsocieties to consider these proposed changes inthe treaty, make adjustments if necessary, gain aconsensus, sign documents of support for thechanges and petition the CITES managementauthorities within each regulated country as wellas the responsible CITES officials inSwitzerland. If we can do this in significantnumbers than the CITES officials should respondand help create positive change.
I would appreciate it very much if interestedparties would comment on my ideas and at somepoint I would like to present the proposal to theproper officials here in the US and Switzerland.
If you agree with the above plan I need a letterof support by e-mail. If you would like to debatethese ideas it is best done on the forums where I have posted this proposal.

President of the Orchid Society of Pakistan

President of the Orchid Society of Pakistan, Razia Aizazuddin...started growing orchids 40 years ago...She once picked up a small pot of an apparently withered plant...she... repotted it, crushed Naphthalene (Camphor balls) and placed a fewpinches of these in the pot along with water for a few days. Within fivedays, her experiment resulted in the plant's miraculous recovery and shesucceeded in learning a new way to save dying orchids....The society holds meetings every second month, arranges seminars,excursions and takes part in the annual flower show after which it takesout its annual newsletter...Aizazuddin believes that coco chip and charcoal suit orchids best...the Orchid Society of Pakistan was formed in 1997... it now has more than100 members"

URL : http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=62731

Mocassin Flower AKA Lady Slipper Orchid

Beautiful article, see: http://www.grandmarais-mn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=5&story_id=233669

Sincerely,
Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

OrchidWiz Orchid Database

The world's most complete and accurate orchid research software, the OrchidWiz Orchid Database. Fully up-to-date through June 2007 with the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) Sander's hybrid registrations and American Orchid Society's (AOS) awards.
See: http://www.orchidwiz.com/

Orchids For Everyone

Although an orchid fossil was found in rocks of the Eocene Epoch in Italy, about 45 million years old, orchids originated from the same ancestral stock as the amaryllis (Amaryllidaceae) and the lilies (Lilliaceae). Orchids are classified as part of the family Orchidaceae and are the most common type of flowering plant, in terms of number of species. Orchids constitute 7% of all flowering plants. Some taxonomists recognize as many as 35,000 species in 1,000 genera. They are found all over the world, in all climates, from the Arctic to the tropics, but not in the desert. The vast majority are tropical or subtropical and can be found growing in the wild.

Visit: http://www.growingedge.com/magazine/featured_articles/view_article.php3?AID=090555

Cooking Recipes with Vanilla from the Vanilla Orchid

Here's the article:
http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/FEATURES02/706200301

Hawaiian Jewel Orchid Threatened by Volcano

"latest phase of Kilauea's eruption could possibly endanger some plant andanimal species native to Hawaii.
... the area where the lava flow surfaced contains the park's 2,500 acreEast Rift Rainforest. The area is protected [how ?] from invasive,non-native plants...
The lava flow... threatens a number of rare plant species including... thisrare jewel orchid [Anoectochilus sandvicensis]."
URL : http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6683023&nav=menu55_2
Regards,

Steve Peralta
1888Orchids.com

Stanhopea: Chocolate Vision 'Solid Pleasure'

How one bloom led an orchid hobbyist to grow a thousand plants.
By Susan Wiedmann Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
Page 1 of 3
San Jose, Calif. - Imagine fragrant six-inch orchid blooms resembling colorful birds in flight or space aliens with open jaws.
In the 1980s, orchid hobbyist Douglas Pulley became so captivated by the dramatic appearance of these exotic Stanhopea orchids that he began hybridizing them, a painstaking procedure. Because of his skill in choosing compatible parents for his hybrids, Dr. Pulley, an ophthalmologist, remains the world's most successful Stanhopea breeder and is also a hybridizer of scores of more than 200 other orchids.

Protecting Orchids Against Aunts with Borax

We find a good way to control ants in the greenhouse, rock garden, around the house generally is to add borax ,available in large supermarkets--at least here in Canada-- to Carnation millk until a stiff paste is produced. We add a little red coloring.Mix thoroughly and drop little 'cookies" onto wax paper. In a few days the cookies will become solid and they can be placed along the ant paths or in pots, etc. Be sure to keep them away from kids and pets. Borax carried to the queen usually cleans up the sand piles. Good luck... OGD
Jim Brasch Plant Hormones
CanadaBurlington, Canada.

Rainwater on Orchids

Rain is a type of precipitation which forms when separate drops of water fall to the Earth's surface from clouds. Not all rain reaches the surface; some evaporates while falling through dry air. Rain that falls to the earth is great for orchids.
My friend Juan uses rainwater by collecting it in 50 gallon drums. He doesn't use rainwater all the time on his orchids since it never rains in Southern California (that's a title to a son by the way). The drums are attached to his gutter system at home. Every time it rains, the drums overflow with water that he uses on his orchids. Using rainwater has a positive effect on orchids because it is low conductivity water. Mix it with your favorite fertilizer and you will see a big difference in the size and color of your orchids.
Steve
1888Orchids.com

Chocolate Scented Orchid
Our Chocolate scented orchid will satisfy their craving for a beautiful and long lasting orchid that has a beautiful scent that smells like vanilla and chocolate. Here is the popular chocolate scented orchid presented in a beautiful Asian style basket adorned with living sheet moss. The flower stem of our chocolate scented orchid can extend up to three feet long. The stem is adorned with beautiful fragrant, mahogany colored flowers.

Controlling Ants Around Orchids

Here's an interesting trick used for getting rid of aunts around your orchids. Ants can raise havoc in a greenhouse and proper control of these pests is important. Some orchids like Cattleya orchids are a magnet for aunts because the little creatures love the nectar Cattleya plants produce. Maybe this will help... I got this from a post on the OGD.

Mix two cups of sugar with one cup of water. Add in twotablespoons of boric acid ("Roach Pruf," etc.). Check the labels onpowdered cockroach killers; they may be 99%+ boric acid. Dissolveboth components, and then saturate cotton balls with the solution. Put cotton balls in jars with lids. Punch a hole in the lidfor ants to get in. Baby food jars are ideal. Put the "bombs" wherethe ants are found. The jars sequester the cotton balls so they don't get wet,and pets can't get to them. Even if they could, boric acid has verylow mammalian toxicity, and is much safer than most commercialpesticides. Borax (the commercial laundry cleaner) may also work, but won't eat it. Too little, and it won't work. I've wiped out entire ant colonies with the bombs that commercial pesticides wouldn't touch. You may have to play with the quantities. Too much, and the ants won't eat it. Too little, and it won't work. Another solution is fipronil (Maxforce, Over 'n Out, Regent,Termidor). It's safe enough with mammals that the applied ticktreatment "Frontline" uses the stuff to systemically poison parasites on pets. My "advice" (whatever that's worth) is no substitute forreading the label.

Cheers,
-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ

Added New Picture to My Profile

There is a new picture of me on my profile in case you are wondering what I look like. This picture was taken at the Hoehn Porsche dealership in Carlsbad, California. One dream of mine is to own a Porsche 911 Carrera so we visited this local Porsche dealership where I was able to touch and feel a Porsche 911 Carrera. Now I have to imagine myself owning one and hopefully it will manifest itself. It is interesting when you start imaging yourself owning something you really want, your thoughts become that what you are focused on.
Steve
1888Orchids.com

Fragrant Orchid
The fragrant orchid Oncidium Sharry Baby "Sweet Fragrance" is the popular oncidium orchid that smells like chocolate! This orchid has won an Award of Merit from the American Orchid Society. It produces beautiful one inch blooms that grow off branches on a spike that can grow up to four feet long. A great orchid for the beginner with a beautiful fragrance. Cross: (Onc. Jamie Sutton Onc. Honolulu) Bloom Season: Fall to Spring, Pot Size: Five Inch, Mature Plant. Limited quantity in February otherwise we have this orchid avaiable in bloom year-around. We offer a 100% Freshness Guarantee so you can buy with confidence.
NOTE:One of the most difficult things to do when describing an orchid is describing its fragrance. A fragrant orchid emits a scent that may be difficult to describe in words. Some orchids smell tart, like citrus while others more musty like a rose. Our fragrant orchid Oncidium Sharry Baby "Sweet Fragrance" really smells like chocolate. Actually the smell is more like chocolate and vanilla. The scent is very pleasant and the fragrance can fill a small room. As the day progresses, the scent becomes stronger. Send our fragrant orchid to someone at work and the orchid will be the talk of the office. Imagine the look on their face when they see and smell this very special fragrant orchid. As a house warming gift, add your special card message with a note of congratulations and your gift is complete.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is Sunday, June 17, 2007. Don't forget to give your dad a big hug and tell him you love him very much. While you are at it, send him an orchid!
Steve
1888Orchids

Memorial Day - A Day to Remember

Today is Memorial Day - A day to remember family and friends we lost. Today we remember family that have passed away. We remember family we love and whome we spent time. Our love for them will last forever. We also remember our friends. Their memory will stay in our hearts. And we also remember friends we never met, like our soldiers in Iraq. These soldiers put their life at risk so we can fully enjoy the freedom our wonderful country offers us. Let's do our best in life for those that have passed and continue to fight for our freedom. Happy Memorial Day 2007!