The next location I found orchids was about 100 miles north of Nairobi just outside Nakuru in Rongai, only a few miles from the Equator. Another garden, my Aunt this time. Its drier and warmer than Nairobi and the bush is sparser and more scrub like rather than forested. There are swathes of Aloe which were in flower, shades of red and orange glowing like coals, it was that time of year when a lot of the shrubs and trees come into bloom. The Jacaranda's with their impossibly violety blue flowers that carpet the ground and the cloudy white of candyfloss Acaicia's buzzing with insects.
The Pepper tree at the back of the house is filled with orchids among which several Ansellia africana. It is their bloom time as they were in flower at this and another location where the flowers were slightly different.
Most notable was that the flower spikes emerge from nodes quite far back on the canes of which I was unaware. I believed they flowered only from the tip of the newest canes and had never noticed this before.
The flowers on these Ansellia were quite large, darker and more densely spotted compared with plants at a later location. Also there were no seed pods here. The scent was not strong at the time I sniffed them but was faintly a honeyed musk. I didn't find it pleasant.
This orchid had formed a thick rope of roots and clumps of psuedobulbs along a length of branch or vine, that was lying across the tree branch. It had flowered at some point recently as there were dried flower spikes and some seed pods that are visible below.
The upright root basket collects a lot of debris.
This large clump of orchid had lots of keiki's.
The upright roots are very prickly and dense, some of the canes on these Ansellia africana were well over a meter in length. I put my hand in the picture as a rough guide to their girth. I have quite large hands (for a woman!)
This Cymbidium was a surprise growing in a bucket.
No comments:
Post a Comment