This post is
long overdue. But the excuse is
fantastic! I spent three weeks in
Madagascar and the Isle de la Réunion.
Most of that time was spent orchid hunting—with my camera of
course. After spending more than 24
hours en route, I arrived in Isle de la Réunion for the International Orchid
Conservation Congress’ 5th meeting.
The lectures, presentations and meeting merit their own blog post—which
is forthcoming. But of course, a
gathering of orchid-lovers wouldn’t be complete without some orchid field
trips. This post will cover just the
first day of orchid hunting in Réunion.
So stay tuned for more.
First field trip:
Sentier de la Riviére and Sentier des Mares et Bois de Couleurs
The forest
itself was absolutely incredible. Everywhere
you looked there was another, beautiful, tropical vista. It was stunning. There were several angraecoid orchids in
bloom and numerous others that had pods, spent flowers or were just growing
happily.
Beclardia macrostachya seemed to be on
every horizontal branch and tree trunk.
They were not in bloom, but it was very interesting to see this unusual
species in situ.
Jumellea triquetra seemed to be in bud everywhere,
but it wasn’t until the end of the day that we found one in bloom. This species is endemic to Réunion and quite
lovely. The flowers’ presentation reminds me a little of snowbells. I didn’t notice a fragrance during the
daytime, but most of the books note that this species has a delightful
fragrance.
Angraecum cordemoyi has small
greenish-white flowers. It seemed to be
in bloom around every bend.
Angraecum costatum was hiding in plain sight—on top
of a low lying tree trunk. To photograph
it, I had to climb up on a neighboring tree and crawl my way over on the
trunk. This is a species I haven’t ever
seen before, even in photographs. So to
see it in situ, in bloom was a treat.
Angraecum obversifolium was also in
bloom. This is another fairly
small-flowered species. Each flower is
about 1 cm and is an almost translucent green.
And finally,
although not an angraecoid, Calanthe
sylvatica was also in bloom. That color
is just spectacular.
And this was
just on the first day! I will keep
sorting through the 2000+ photographs from this trip and update this blog with
more in situ orchid photos.
