Flowering now 4

Our member Jean has been weathering the storms and rain in her extensive garden and there’s plenty to see and enjoy even on a grey and drizzly afternoon. Almost all of Jean’s orchids are grown outside, hanging under trees, growing on trees, and in pots.

Her dancing ladies-type Oncidium may only have one spike, but that spike is abundant with flowers. Photo: Sandra Simpson

Sobralia, possibly virginalis, grows in a big clump in the garden. Although the flowers last only a short while, the plants produce a good number of them over an extended period. Jean’s pink-flowered Sobralia, growing nearby, hasn’t bloomed this year. Photo: Sandra Simpson

An unnamed Epiphyllum grows in amongst the bromeliads. Photo: Sandra Simpson

These Stanhaopea nigroviolacea flowers are just coming to their end, but the plant has had multiple stems that have flowered sequentially. Jean says the scent is gorgeous while she’s mowing the lawn. Photo: Sandra Simpson

The native orchid Earina autumnalis (Ruapeka, Easter orchid) has a sweet vanilla scent on a warm day. Photo: Sandra Simpson

Raupeka, the Easter orchid

Earina autumnalis is a New Zealand native orchid that received its botanical name because it flowers in the autumn. It grows in and on trees from lowland to montane forests almost everywhere in the North Island, from the top of the South Island along the West Coast, and in some places on the east coast, on Stewart Island, and on the Chatham Islands.

There are two species of Earina native to New Zealand – autumnalis and the spring/summer flowering mucronata. There are also five species of Earina native to New Caledonia and one each found in Tahiti, Samoa and Fiji.

 Earina autumnalis flowering in April at Tararua Forest Park. Photo: Wikipedia

A writer in the Otago Daily Times describes the orchid like this: These are one of the most heavily perfumed of the New Zealand native flowers. The strong vanilla fragrance often alerts one to the plant’s presence in the forest, where an observant walker may spot the drooping dark green leaves high in a tree trunk, or on a cliff face.

The white, waxy flowers have yellow or orange markings on the labellum and column. The panicles are up to 10cm long with many small flowers, 5mm across, from February to May. Stems are up to 80cm long, drooping if longer. The orchid’s roots are fibrous rhizomes. The shiny dark green leaves are 4-12cm long and 5-8mm wide, widest near the base, narrowing towards the tip.

The flowers of Earina autumnalis as photographed by Bob Goodger and published in Orchids in NZ 12.2 (1986).

Taranaki Orchid Show 2017

Earina autumnalis, a New Zealand native orchid has a distinctive, and beautiful, scent. Photo: Winsome Edwards

Thanks to Tauranga Orchid Society member Winsome Edwards for sharing her photo record of the event, held in New Plymouth from January 13-15.

Diaphananthe millarii, shown by P and G Fox, is a miniature orchid native to southern Africa.

The Leroy Orchids display with Dendrobium Roy Tokunaga (at top) winning a First and a Second.

Carl Christensen of Napier showed this (beautiful) unnamed Dendrobium, winning a Second.

Ornithocephalus kruegeri is a miniature orchid shown by Wilma Fitzgibbons of the Tauranga Orchid Society. The orchid is native to Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

Maxillaria echinophyta, shown by P and G Fox, is native to Brazil.