December 6, 7 and 8 in
Réunion
December 6 was
primarily a day of excellent lectures at the IOCC conference. In the afternoon, however, a small group
rented a car to explore an area called “Le Colorado.” We ending up finding only one orchid in
bloom, this little Cynorkis purpurascens.
 |
| Cynorkis purpurascens |
Quite by accident, however, we discovered an
incredible view that made the trip entirely worthwhile. (As the top of my head is in the photo, I obviously didn't take it. This photo was taken by Susanne Masters.)
 |
| La fenetre |
December 7th
and 8th were devoted to orchid hunting. The conference organizers had arranged for
the group visit several different habitats ranging from Cirque de Cilaos
(elevation 1214 meters / 3980 feet) to the forêt de mare longue right at sea
level. With local orchidists and
teachers/students from the University in Saint Denis, we had experts leading
the way.
Cirque de Cilaos is a
volcanic caldera and is quite literally a bowl shaped area surrounded by peaks. “Cilaos” means “place you never leave,” and
it is quite beautiful. (Sadly, the
history of the name originates from escaped slaves looking for refuge.) Because of the high elevation, it was
noticeably cooler in the cirque than it had been in the lower elevation
forests. And accordingly, the
vegetation was different as well.
 |
| View from Roche merveilleuse |
There are beautiful forests skirting the cirque itself and we found a number of angraecoid and other orchid species. Although not particularly showy, we found clumps of Angraecum tenuifolium in full bloom in
two different locations. Both locations
were in shadier spots and very near water of some kind. And interestingly, the plants seemed to grow
off the side of horizontal (more or less) limbs.
 |
| Plant is visible in the center of the photo. |
 |
| Angraecum tenuifolium |
Another angraecoid, Jumellea rossii, was found growing both on trees and large
boulders. In both cases, mosses and leaf
debris surrounded the roots.
 |
| Jumellea rossii |
My favorite find of the day, however, was Angraecum expansum. One particular plant was growing such that
the flower appeared to hang in mid-air.
The area where these species were found were very warm and very
humid.
 |
| Angraecum expansum |
The last day in Reunion was spent in a sea-level forest. It was very hot and humid with very little air movement. Along side of the entrance road, an eagle-eyed member of the group noticed Angraecum cucullatum growing on the trees. Once we started looking, they seemed to be everywhere, but to photograph some you had to be willing to do a little off-trail walking in the large ferns.
 |
| Angraecum cucullatum and Bulbo. occultum |
 |
| Angcm. cucullatum |
 |
| Angcm. cucullatum |
 |
| Photographing Angcm cucullatum |
Bulbophyllum
varigatum was also growing in the same forest. (Unfortunately, the flowers faced over a small ravine and I wasn't willing to risk life and limb to photograph them face-on.)
 |
| Bulbo. varigatum |
In this particular forest, there were a number of trees that were completely covered with different species and genera of orchids. Interestingly, a neighboring tree might not have any.
 |
| Possibly Angraecum pectinatum covering a tree trunk with other orchid species. |
 |
| Tree with multiple bulbophyllum and angraecoid orchids |
A few of the more adventurous of the group hiked up an old lava field to observe what plants had re-established themselves since the 2004 eruption. Interestingly, one of the first species was an orchid Arundina
graminifolia. There were multiple plants of this species in bloom in various locations on the lava field.
Réunion is a gem—both in itself and as an
orchid-hunters paradise. There were so
many different climates and micro-climates contained in this small island. Réunion is definitely on my “must revisit”
list.
Next up, Madagascar here we come . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment