Finding rare plants

15 years ago

Over a year ago a member brought a Dendrobium dearii to our show and blew everyone away. He won 'Best Dend of Show' with it, came close to winning 'Best of Show'. He bought it 4 years prior from some vendor he could not remember. He has never seen it before or since. It had a spectacular bunch of crystalline white flowers, Jah Phal's picture does not come close to doing it justice.

I decided I had to have one of these and started looking. It does not show up on anybody's offerings, I asked people I know, no one had any idea where to get it. I posted at several orchid forums, including this one, and got no response. It simply did not appear to be available at this time.

6 months ago I was a Andy's picking up a couple of Pleuros I bought and as I was paying Harry, his brother, for my purchase, I complained about my lack of success in finding this plant. "We got it," he said, "how many do you want?" I was blown away, bought one and also asked him how come it does not show up on their web page nor does a power search show that they have it. "It's only for people who asked for it" was the answer I got.

It's in full spectacular bloom right now and immediately was selected as 'speaker's choice' by the next speaker of our society. I'm thrilled with it.

Point is that many places, I'm sure Andy is just one of them, have unusual plants that they don't list because they are basically reserved for their favorite customers. Not finding it on their web page does not mean that they do not have the plant. Another example was Dracula robledorum, also not available by ordinary means. Hawk Hills did not list it, neither did anyone else. When I asked Gary Meyer directly he pulled one out of his hat.

If you are searching for some 'turn on' that does not seem to be available anywhere, don't hesitate to ask each and every vendor if they have one under the bench for special customers only, you might get a pleasant surprise.

Nick

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Comments (7)

zozzl
15 years ago
You are so right! A few months ago I was looking for a Huntleya wallissi and could not find one. Someone suggested Andy's and they did have it although it was not listed on their website. Always best to ask.

Darn, now I want a dearii.
cjwatson
15 years ago
I've also had a huge amount of luck over the years asking Oak Hill if they had a plant I wanted; they often have ones and twos of various species tucked away on a back bench. Last month, I asked if they had any Aeranthes species, and Greg turned up a mature Aeranthes antennophora. I have never seen this Angraecoid species for sale before anywhere. I am a very happy camper.

Whenever I order from any dealer, I always include a short list of plants I am looking for. And sometimes I get very lucky.
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orchidnick
Original Author
15 years ago
The plot is thickening. I just got a D dearii 'North Borneo form'. It looks exactly the same except the flowers are larger 6.8 cm vs 4.5 cm. I'll be able to bring both to the species society that meets this Sunday. Seeing the 2 side by side, both in bloom, should be a treat.

Apparently there are 4 different forms or terms used for the same group of plants. Originally it was described as D dearii, then the term D Takahashi (don't know why it is capitalized) crept in and also the use of the terms D sanderae var luzonia and D ovipostiferum. All of the above can be used to describe the same plant.

Here are the differences. The straight D dearii is from the Phillipines, hot growing, requires even water all year and has flowers as described. The North Borneo form is similar in growth requirements and appearance except the flowers are larger. Jay Phal states that this form is almost always sold as D ovipostiferum. D sandrae var Luzonia comes for the Luzon region of the Philippines, grows at a much higher elevation and requires a dry winter, it appears to be a different plant. D Takahashi has gone the way of circular dial phones.

The first one I got was a small sanderae which is still a long way from blooming. Then I got the dearii from Andy whose label identifies it as coming from the Philippines. Just now I got the North Borneo form from Marnie Turkel who states that when she bought small seedlings they were labeled D ovipostiferum. When they bloomed with flowers as large as described she renamed it D dearii, North Borneo variety.

So Zozzl, when you get your dearii, find out where it originated. I'm going to take a poll from the species society which variety they like better. If you get one let us know which variety you scored.

Nick
whitecat8
15 years ago
Nick, congrats on happening across this intrigue & for your finds!

My "pull out all the stops" list includes

- this forum

- orchid societies - you belong or have a connection

- emailing trusted/recommended vendors who carry similar orchids

- Ebay, trusted/recommended vendors

- Orchid Mall, to remind you of vendors you didn't email. http://www.orchidmall.com/plants.htm

- Terrestrial Orchids Forum. Most grow non-terrestrials too. http://forum.terrorchid.org/

- Various other orchid forums. Is it SlipperTalk.com that does a fair amount of selling? A couple of years ago, anyway, one forum required a donation to the cause - % of sale or set amount. http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/index.php

- Green Culture Singapore Forum. English language. Perhaps too improbable a resource and fascinating only to me.

The first post I saw just now is from fishoman: "For those who can comprehend Mandarin, this is the link to the Malaysia Orchid Forum: http://www.myorchid.org/index.php.";
http://www.greenculturesg.com/forum/index.php?/forum/55-orchidaceae/

- Ellen @ Olympia Orchids will search the world for a specific plant, looking only in your price range. Dunno know if there's a charge. orchids@olympicorchids.com

- Troy Meyers. Limited selection & delayed gratification - you can get on the list for one or more plants from x number of flasks, should germination occur & there are enough viable plants. In the past, Troy's been great about sending updates. Also usually has a small selection of plants for sale.
https://lab.troymeyers.com/flasking/home.php

- Last resort, if you can grow from seed: B&T World Seeds, France. Limited selection.
http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/aleCatm.asp?title=*Orchid%20Seed%20List&list=4
orchidnick
Original Author
15 years ago
Great information.

Nick
whitecat8
15 years ago
Thanks. I can get - uh - focused on finding a plant. :)
orchidnick
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm now looking for a Pleurothallis brachiata. Can't find it anywhere.

Nick