Kalanchoe garambiensis

Acquired this species from a Taiwanese plant collector in 2006. He told me this is an taiwanese endemic, restricted to the southern coastal rocks and cliffs. One would assume that it is relatively easy to keep this plant coming from a subtropical coastal habitat that experiences deluge of monsoon rain. It proves to be ephemeral in the sense that it can grow rapidly and then loose its roots and cling on to life in the form of small bits of shoots or stems. I suppose it may be the same in the wild.

This is the write-up from http://www.efloras.org/.

Kalanchoe garambiensis Kudo 台南伽蓝菜
Description from Flora of China
Herbs 5-8 cm tall, glabrous. Root stout, sometimes branched. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade spatulate, 1-1.8 × 0.3-0.7 cm, base tapered, margin entire, apex obtuse to shortly acute. Inflorescences laxly
corymbiform, cymose, 3-10-flowered. Sepals ovate-oblong, ca. 5 mm, glandular, apex acute. Corolla yellow; tube slender, ca. 2 cm, base urceolate; lobes broadly ovate, apex obtuse, subconcave, or acute. Fl. Apr, fr. Aug.
This species could be regarded as a very depauperate form of Kalanchoe integra. See J. Jap. Bot. 78: 252. 2003: Kalanchoe spathulata var. garambiensis (Kudo) H. Ohba.
* Among rocks. S Taiwan.

Echeveria carnicolor

A local succulent enthusiast purchased this plant from San Francisco. This is America's equivalent of 3 pots for S$10 sale offer at a small nursery. It proves to be a very adaptable and vigorous Echeveria. It offsets readily (above photo)and the bracts on the offset drops most readily. These bracts will take root almost immediately to give new plants (photo below: note another mini plantlet is already growing from a leaf bract bottom right).

The color varies a lot. If grown in shade, the purplish tint is less intense. Under the same condition of light and soil, young plants are also less intensely colored. Unlike other Echeverias, this species can tolerate shade and does not etiolate or become "leggy". I decided this is probably E. carnicolor or a hybrid of possibly Echeveria `Lavender Hill` which is E. carnicolor x E. atropurperea. Both species come from lowland coastal state of Veracruz, Mexico. No wonder it can survive in Singapore!

Take a look at a very extensive photo album of Cok & Ine Grootscholten. I should n't have gave this nursery a miss when i was in Netherlands. A great regret till this day.

Tropical Echeveria?

If you see an Echeveria as white as this one on sale chances are it is a cool growing species which will collapse under Singapore hot and humid climate. E. lauii is arguably one of whitest and prettiest of echeverias. We have to thank nature for this anomaly. It is found just at a low altitude of 500 m a.s.l in a hot and dry ravine of Rio Salado - Quiotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. This is a relatively slow growing species and it rarely offsets. Fortunately, it can be propagated from leaves and bracts.

Having found a rosette forming member of the crassulaceae family triggers in me a desire to get other Echeverias that may have a good chance of surviving. My shortlist of potential low growing species: E. atropurpurea, E. carnicolor, , E. diffractens, E. nuda, E. racemosa. And if you have any of these species, please contact me!

Impatiens sp Kanchanaburi Province

Thailand is rich in Impatiens species and there are now more being found and properly described. Since Thailand is home to I. mirabilis - a "giant" stem caudiciform from the karst in south, one would expect more pachycaul Impatiens to be found in the Indo China region with rich in karst habitats. Yes, that's indeed the case. Some new pachycaul species like I. pachycaulon from Laos & I. angulata from Southern Western China. Am not able to put a name to this species from Kanchanaburi province, Thailand, except that it is probably in the same section as I. kerriae. It differs from I. mirabilis in that the inflorescence is non-terminal. The stem is also exceptionally woody amongst known pachycaul Impatiens. From a hobbyist point of view, i would group it with I. verrucifer, I. angulata sharing the same habit, general form and flowering characteristics.

Caralluma hexagona

This very small dainty stapeliad was purchased from the famous Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a strongly branching plant with forms a small mound or mat over time. I was trying to put an identification to it for some time. At first i thought it was C. greenbergiana then C. foulcheri-delboscii and also possibly C. shadhbana or it could be C. hexagona as well. Yes, i was nearly right. The taxonomist as least according to the chapter Caralluma by B. Muller & Albers in Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants - Asclepiadaceae has reduced all the difficult to spell species epithets to something easy to remember C. hexagona. Let's keep our fingers crossed... you never know when somebody might do some splits or revisions or unearth some earlier published species name than will take precedence according to International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

This is widely distributed species from the Arabian peninsular (Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman). Since it is probably more adaptable given its habitat range that may explain why my clone is heat tolerant. A general rule of thumb is to propagate it during the vegetative phase; it can sometimes collapse without a good reason, remnant branches can prove difficult to root.

Orbea dummeri

On my second attempt keeping O. dummeri, it rewards me with strickingly beautiful flowers. Perhaps it is a more heat tolerant clone after going through a rot or thrive selection process over Southern Taiwan's hot 36 C summers. According to Monograph of Orbea and Ballyanthus by P. V. Bruyns in Systematic Botany Monographs Vol.63, it is a species higher and drier parts of Kenya, and other neighbouring countries of the Rift Valley occuring from 950 - 1600m. The plant in my first failed attempt came from chiller greenhouse of the West, and it quickly perished.

Over the last couple of years, i come to realized that stapeliads are not so difficult to keep if they can tolerate heat in the high 30Cs. Should they look limp and a bit desiccated after their peak growth or flowering season... let them be. They just need a dry rest with a bit of water just to keep them from unrecoverable desiccation. During this period, look out signs of deadly pest like spider mites. Spider mites can easily reduced plants to sad resting state look! When new growth starts, water & fertilize. And if it is a tempermental species take cuttings and keep an extra pot!

Mexican Poppy

We were trying to find a short cut to the bank of the Irrawaddy river at Mandalay, Myanmar. On the map it seemed easy enough to cross several blocks and we will get there. Actually, it was easy enough... but we were not prepared for the reality. It cuts through a very poor part of town, full of shacks assembled from any materials that the dwellers can lay their hands on. On top of that... there's no river view! We were greeted with an earthen great wall - a levee that was about 10 m above the shanty town! As i was scaling the dusty loose earth i couldn't help imagining a raging river laden with flood waters during the wet monsoon threatening to breach the levee and wipe out the shanty district. Walking on top of the levee i saw some bamboo dwellings build on bamboo rafts with various buoys on the swallows of a drying river. Some 20 m away i spotted a very distinctively sliver white pricky plant (above) facing the drying river. It had beautiful bright yellow poppy-like flower. My instinct was to look for seed pods but it was a young plant with the first flowers. Its existence would be ephemeral given its loose footing on a levee. Sad thoughts aside..would you agree that this plant should deserve a place in a dry garden:
After some research, it is a well-known weed Argemone ochroleuca from Mexico and had a string of common names like Mexican poppy, pricky-thistle and so forth and has naturalized to most of the seasonally dry areas of the world. Despite its weedy status, i was looking forward to grow this plant but getting this weed proved elusive. Today with luck, i am given a handful of seeds thanks to my friend who had just visited a semi-desert area in India. Okay, luck was secondary, i actually prep my friend with a list of what to look out for when he's there!

Caralluma speciosa

This is one of the very old succulents that i managed to keep alive. Got it "once-upon-a-time" from Out-of-Africa Plants when general succulent prices were much lower. That was before the US housing bubble, when oil prices are in the low twenties, the price of Caralluma somalica in the catalogue was probably at ~$8 and US oversea postage was relatively low and then surface mail option was still available. It wanted to flower couple of times over the past years but the buds aborted. The La Nina cooling effect of 2007 has triggered it to flower over Nov'07-Feb'08 period.

It did not turned out to be C. somalica as labelled but C. speciosa. The perfectly symmetrical ball of inflorescence about 10 cm across is very impressive. Well, the foetid rotten flesh odor will get your attention within a couple of meters. The smell attracts big carrion flies. It took me many tries to get a decent picture - the corona has bright luminescent quality and contrast poorly with the yellow corolla tube; either the corona is overexposed or the dark maroon corolla lobes are underexposed.

This is one of the big clumping Caralluma found in tropical East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda & Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, probably also in Djibouti or Eritrea) on dry rocky savanna or semi-desert lowland habitat. C. speciosa and other like C. adenensis, C. somalica, C. acutangula (C. retrospiciens) and C. edithae are similar species that can be "grouped" together. Now, am awaiting another big clumping Caralluma sp. purchased from Bangkok to flower.

Hoya imbricata

Hoya imbricata is endemic to The Philippines. It is found on tree trunks at low to medium altitudes in Bontoc, Rizal, and Laguna Provinces in Luzon and in Busuanga. A thin wiry stem climbs up bare trunk and bears convex disc-shaped leaves up to 12 cm across. If the leaves cannot find a flat surface to wrap around, it will form a half-pouch. In cultivation with limited slab climbing for the growing plant, this takes away the full beauty of this Hoya. Some forms are more attractive with contrasting marble on intense reddish-purple leaves. Ants can take shelter under the leaves or in the pouch. It parallels its cousin Dischida cochleata in its myrmecophytic habit.

The flowers are borne on leafless stems; velvety, and creamy-white 8 to 10 millimeters in diameter. The umbel is geotropic (facing down) and that makes it challenging to photograph. See if you can spot the copper wire that was use to right it up to face the light. This was a 2-leaf cutting gift that my friend brought back from the famous Bangkok's Chatuchak Market. Back then, it was a rare hoya.

Chirita drakei in flower

This is a follow-up post for Chirita drakei in Feb 2008. After making my comments in a public blog that i think it will not flower for me, the plant has decided to do just that in end March 2008! Unusually large bracts protect the buds. I failed to detect any hint of fragrance or carrion. The pollen is not exposed and it requires an insect to eat or destroy the anther caps before releasing the dusty pollen. The self-pollination attempt is so far so good with 3 thin long capsule developing. The true test for viable seeds is still months away.

Oeceoclade calcarata

This is probably one of the more commonly offered Oeceoclades species in the orchid market. I got my from Burleigh Park Orchids an Austrialian nursery by sharing a shipment with other local orchid hobbyists. Once again, the label says it is O. decaryana. Many other offers and photos on the web suggest it is O. calcarata. This is my first and oldest pot of Oeceoclades. And one of the most prolific growers with multiple growing points. Even the bud on top of a old pseudobulb is capable of giving rise to an new offset - bottom right. It is extremely succulent and drought tolerant with very strong thick roots covered with exceptionally spongy velamen. Unfortunately, it is flower shy; a firm identification will have to wait. Garay & Taylor* mentions that the type specimen is without precise locality, probably again from deciduous forest of northern or western Madagascar.

This post and the last few posts cover my Oeceoclades collection. If someone is going to order an Oeceoclades petiolata from ISI 2008 offering contact me!

*The Genus Oeceoclades by L. Garay & P. Taylor in Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University, Vol. 24, No. 9.

Oeceoclades spathulifera?

This is species very closely related to O. calcarata. In my view, without flowering this orchid, it would be more appropriate to classify it as different colour variant of O. calcarata. The leaves are very thick, the surface is hard and shiny as if coated with clear varnish. The thick, hard pseudobulbs are distinctively 4-angled. I got it when it was a seedling and it came with a label O. spathulifera. It would not be wrong to say that it comes from the deciduous-scrub of western Madagascar.

Oeceoclades roseo-variegata

This is the type species that comes from near Diego Suarez, Montague des Francaise.

Another Oececlades

Got this beautiful form of O. roseovariegata through plant exchange. It is originated from "Berevo", which i presume is a village marker for locality. The cryptic reddish-marbled tesselation is regal. The leaf surface is also rather unusual for an orchid, it seems to be covered with a very fine felt or has minute projections. It is not "hairy". The type species comes from near Diego Suarez, Montague des Francaise; leaf margins is not as undulating in comparison.

The flowers are small, odourless and insignificant. My self pollination attempt was a failure. Given it's locality up in the northern most tip of Madagascar, reckon it should in theory get more rain and therefore can tolerate more water. At this point with only 1 pot, i'm in no hurry to push it for faster growth.

Oeceoclades peyrotti

I went to the 2007 Johor Orchid Show without expectation; but was really lucky and managed to pick up an unexpected gem Oeceoclades peyrotti. The vendor was selling 6 mth old seedlings out of flask. He purchased this flask of new offering while attending some orchid conference or meeting in France or was it somewhere Europe i cannot recall. This newly described species has been around since 1974, recollected again in the 1990s and was growing in collection of jardin des Cedres at St Jean Cap Ferrat in Southern France. Again, it is a species from the dry deciduous forest of southwestern Madagascar. **

As i was able to successfully nurse from 2 to 4 pseudobulbs it has paid back my small investment. Cultivation is not different from the other oeceoclades. Need to dry out between watering. Potting in very coarse free-draining inorganic mix of rocks, lime or charcoal ... basically any coarse filler material, and filling interstitial space with finer sand or humus.

** Contribution à l'étude des Orchidaceae de Madagascar et des Mascareignes. XXXI. Espèces et combinaisons nouvelles dans les genres Oeceoclades, Eulophia et Eulophiella. J. Bosser & P. Morat. Adansonia, Sér. 3 2001. 23(1): 7-22.

Puzzling Oeceoclades Sp

I got this Oeceoclades seedling from Isobyl La Croix when she offered seed-raised orchids for sale at least 5 years ago. The label suggests O. ambongensis which i had assumed to be correct. Only last year did i manage to xerox a copy of the paper titled The Genus Oeceoclades by L. Garay & P. Taylor in Botanical Museum Leaflets Harvard University, Vol. 24, No. 9. It is a taxonomic paper that suggests a need to split Oeceoclades from Eulophia... a note under O. ambongensis = syn E. ambongense caught my eye: "related species of O. maculata alliance". Looking through a couple of available papers.. it appears that my O. ambongensis have more affinities to O. decaryana. I cannot rule out O. ambongensis because i was not able to get hold of the original description of E. ambongense in an old obscure botanical publication!

The amazing find from websearch yields a mini-picture of a herbarium sheet of Eulophidium ambongense

Holotype of Eulophidium ambongense Schltr. Verified by Perrier de la Bâthie, H., 1950

From: West, sandy forest/wood. [Ouest: bois sablonneux], Manongarivo (Ambongo)

The wealth of online material has just help eliminate the O. ambongense possibility. I just have to wait for flowers to confirm if it is O. decaryana or O. aff*. decaryana! [*decaryana has distinctively 5-angular pseudobulbs]

It is definitely a slow grower. Enjoys drying out between watering. Onion-like 1-1.5" succulent pseudobulbs helps it tide-over long drought much better than fellow madagascan euphorbias! In fact, a distinct period of drought triggers formation of new buds for next season's growth.

Hoya caudata

This is an endemic hoya to the peninsula: Malaysia and Southern Thailand. It is a fairly common species throughout the peninsula in lowland forest. The flowers are borned on a geotropic (pointing downward in direction of gravity) concave umbel. So it is unavoidable that we always get a backlitted bunch of flowers; it is pretty isn't it (above). The leaves are very succulent and thick, with very strong undulating and rough margins... and the marbled or lichen/mold/fungus-like irregular patch of white makes it very attractive. The leaves (below) are around 15 cm long.

A Rare Dischidia cochleata

This is a very beautiful ant associated Dischidia species is described by Blume with Type specimen from Java. In The Peninsular Malayan species of Dischidia by R. E. Rintz, it has been recorded from lowland and hill forest of southern 2/3 of the Peninsula; seen once in Selangor; Reported from Malacca, Pahang and Singapore. This species is an "intermediate" ant-plant, with round-convex leaves clasping branches and twigs. Intermediate ant plant in the sense that it does not have well develop ant-housing pouch structure as D. major a native or D. pectinoides from The Philippines but possesses just simple convex-shelter for ants or other insects while many other species like D. nummularia does provide any ant shelter at all.

We were very fortunate to chance upon it on a fallen branch in a recreation stream/waterfall area in Southern Johor. The area has since been destroyed by a flash flood about 2 years ago. This specimen has exceptionally bright red flowers and capped bluish-white lobes; the leaves are covered with small random conical projections, giving it a rough and bumpy texture. So far, this is one of the most best clone ever found; more red versus orange and more textured leaves. It does reasonably well for me, enjoying intense light...some light fertilizing and grown on a stick. This clone has been introduced to a couple of friends in Thailand, Taiwan, Europe and US... but for most is challanging to difficult.

Water Clover

There is always something new when you go on vacation. I went on a 4 day trip to Thailand in mid-January 2008 to visit friends, plant market and orchid show at Chantaburi. We stopped by a friend's fruit orchard and found in a drying up pond a patch of beautiful Marsilea crenata or water clover. Typically, the leaves are well spaced out and carried on runners on inundated muddy flats. In this photo, it covered the muddy ground with a unusually tight mat of leaves together with a few arrow shaped Ipomoea aquatica* leaves sticking out.

It may not occur to a plant enthusiast that Marsilea is a fern. Unlike other ferns, spores are not borned on the underside of a frond but inside a bean like structure. The spore-bearing leaf has evolved into a special structure called sporocarp:

Just the day after i saw M. crenata in drying-up pool, i found another species M. drummonii growing in a plant enthusiast's collection. This triggered a recollection of Moran's essay**. He wrote of early Australian explorers sustenance on improperly prepared meal of nardoo (M. drummondii) sporocarp which resulted in poisoning and death. The photo below shows M. drummondii with silvery white hairs on its new leaves together with M. crenata. The hairs on top of having underground rhizomes may be an evolutionary adaption to protect young leaves from intense sunlight as M. dummondii is found on harsh seasonally climate that alternates between drought and floods. Interestingly, i found out that M drummondii is native to Thailand and absent from aseasonal Malaysia & Singapore.

*By the way, i. aquatica is 'kang-kong' a staple vegetable in found in south east asian cooking. And a popular dish is sambal kang-kong.

**The Natural History of Ferns, Timberpress by Robbin C. Moran is a wonderful read. It contains an unparalleled collection of highly readable essays on different aspects of fern life, evolution, cultural history, interesting facts and adaptations.

Cylindrical leaf Euphorbia

This species with 2 subspecies parallels E decaryi with its 2 subspecies decaryi and spirosticha. It possesses leaves with a cylindrical cross section and a distinct center groove. The 2 subspecies are cylindrifolia and tuberifera. Subspecies cylindrifolia does not possess a center-caudex, but seed grown plants spread radially from a center growing point and it also spread through underground stems like E. decaryi. It can therefore forms a mat. Subspecies tuberifera froms a caudex if it is seed grown. The stems spread and branch out from the caudex but does not possess the underground stoloniferous habit. In time it can form a large caudex covered with a neat dense mat spread of linear leaves.

Above is the subspecies tuberifera with stems radiating from a center-caudex.

It is also a species from the dry Alluaudia-Didierea forest in southwestern Madagascar on limestone substrate. E. cylindrifolia v. cylindrifolia can easily be started from cutting and given time will grow true to form with stems radiating from a point. However, it is necessary to start E. cylindrifolia v. tuberifera from seeds to get a caudex plant. So far, i've not tried taking leaf cuttings of v. tuberifera to root but it should be possible. I did recall that one of my v. cylindrifolia stem cutting was rotten all the way to the base and only a rooted leaf was left. A new plant did eventually grow and forms a nice mat.