The picture was taken in Fraser's Hill, Pahang, Malaysia.
It is also known that this species, when removed to be grown elsewhere outside their natural environment, can be notoriously stubborn for not flowering even up to ten years! Our plant, a cutting of the one we have from Kelantan was grown here in our home here in Klang, Selangor for 6 years.
It flowered for the first time . The first bloom was at the last 4 days during the Chinese New Year i.e 17th. February,2008 and it lasted for over a month. The second bloom started 15th. June until today. The parent plant is still in Kelantan and usually flowers around Mederka Day in August.. We can safely conclude that orchid species like these, do not follow its flowering pattern when grown out of their location/recorded season.
This is a picture of the single flower. It measured around 4ins x 6 ins each and the first stalk consists of 61 flowers!
We tested for self-pollination and it produced 3 large fruits measuring 8ins x 5 ins weighing 300gms each! We had to support its flower stalk too. The photo below was taken at its development stage. When the fruit ripens, normally takes about 3 months, bursts and showers the area below with millions of powder-like seeds. It is rare that new plants would be formed if the environment is not conducive. In nature, new seedlings are formed this way. This is due to the absence of nutrient-giving mycorrhiza. Many artificially germinate the seeds in the laboratory.
The total height of the flower stalk stands at 6 ft. (below)
The second flowering produced 80 flowers!
This picture (below) was taken Kuala Rompin, Johore. The Grammatophyllum speciosum was just grown under full sun outside the home but with strong sea breeze everyday.
It is also known that many orchids such as these have been used as traditional medicine. This article which appeared in 'The Star' Malaysia, reported that in Sarawak, the Kelabit people uses it as a food dish.
A very interesting reference book on how orchids are being used by humans is written by Professor Emeritus Joseph Arditti
"Fundamentals of Orchid Biology" [Wiley, ISBN 0-471-54906-1]
in the chapter 'Commercial and Ethnobotanical Uses of Orchids'.
I was glad to have meet him here in Petaling Jaya in August 2005 when he gave a presentation at the invitation by PRIME College.
This discription is not confirmed. I suspect it to be Coel. salmonicolor. Anyone can assist?
The colors and pattern of the flowers appears on the 'outside' rather than on the inside as in all orchids!
Does well on lowlands but with medium shade.
This in-situ shot was captured last week in Genting Highlands and was flowering profusely. Our collected species from Gunong Stong, Kelantan, have not flowered for the last ten years although new plants were produced. The entire clump is healthy and getting larger but it did not flower at all.
This 'Dendrobium' look alike could be hybridized with other genus to produce some good flowers and was wondering anyone did it although someone did suggest doing so.
According to the Asia Sentinel's report here , it is indeed very sad as I have personally witnessed endless days of logging near our conservatory everytime I visit this place since the 80's. What else can we say? What else can we do?
