Phalaenopsis Bl.
It is pronounced “fahle-nopp-sis”. What does the word Phalaenopsis mean? It means ‘moth-like’. And behind this name hides a pretty story:
 Phalaenopsis aphrodite |
In the 18th and 19th centuries, while the Malaysian Islands were under Dutch rule, several botanists were exploring their flora. Among them was Dr. C. L. Blume, the director of the Royal Botanic Garden in Java. Sometime in the year 1825, while he was botanising in the mountains on an island just south of Java, he saw several orchids there that were already known to him. He also noticed swarms of butterflies. On the far side of a deep river, he watched a large group of them hovering over one tree branch. He took out his binoculars to closer examine this charming sight, and to his astonishment, he saw that those ‘butterflies’ were in fact white flowers. Later, Dr. Blume sent his collectors to bring back these butterfly-flowers. He described them properly (in Latin), calling them lovely moth-imitators: “Phalaenopsis amabilis”.
Dr. Blume was not the first one to describe these orchids for science. As early as 1750, a German botanist, G.E. Rumphius had found similar orchids on the island of Ambon and described them under the native name “Angrek Boelan” = Moon Orchid, adding two other words (“album majus” = big white).
In 1753, another one of these orchids (in dry form as an herbarium specimen) was delivered to Linnaeus, who called it “Epidendrum amabile”. In those days, every orchid (as an epiphyte) was called “Epidendrum”. Other plants of this genus were taken to the Calcutta Botanical Gardens in 1798 and there they were even called “Cymbidium amabile”. I am happy that Dr. Blume’s pretty, descriptive name was accepted as the final name.
In the section Euphalaenopsis (Eu- meaning true), the type specimen is Phalaenopsis amabilis (L./ Bl.) and it has a number of varieties. There are others in this section, namely Phal. aphrodite, Phal. philippinensis, Phal. sanderiana, Phal. schilleriana and Phal. stuartiana. To read up on all the different species and varieties of this single section, please look up Dr. Eric Christenson’s monograph on Phalaenopsis.
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress