Vandas – Anyone?
During the past summer and fall I noticed that there were more than the regular number of flowers on our vandaceous plants than in other years. Some plants that had never before put out any flowers finally did “show their stuff”. I suppose that the reason for this was our long-lasting, hot summer and the abundant sunshine that our Northern latitudes cannot provide every year.
I decided to read up on Vandas; there are quite a number of them. There are related genera like Aerides, Arachnis, Ascocentrum, Renanthera, Rhynchostylis, Trichoglottis and many others. There are, of course, hybrids between the species and between many different genera, resulting in Aeridovanda, Ascocenda, Ernestara, Mokara, Renantanda etc. The natural home for all of these can be found in Asia and the tropical Pacific Islands. That covers a large area and if you want to learn anything about your particular plant, you must try to find out where exactly this plant would grow in nature. This curiosity can take the inquirer on many interesting journeys – in my case, the journeys go through books and other publications, all from the safety of my armchair.
One of the most impressive tales I found is the story which tells of the discovery of Vanda sanderiana, or better: Euanthe sanderiana.
 Vanda sanderiana |
It was in the early spring of 1880, when Mr. Frederick Sander from St. Albans (England) asked one of his collectors to go to the Philippines and try to find rare orchids. This particular collector was Mr. M. Roebbelen, born 1855 in Switzerland. When he arrived in the Philippines, it was suggested to him to explore the Southern islands, particularly Mindanao, to look for a red Phalaenopsis, later found and named Phalaenopsis sanderiana. Roebbelen had also been told of an orchid that grows on tall trees in coastal swamps that are full of disease-ridden mosquitoes. This orchid was said to have flowers “as large as dish pans”. The very hostile natives there had by now been kept somewhat in check by the Spanish colonial government and regular trade and transportation services were possible, at least along the coast. Roebbelen was allowed to accompany a Chinese trader, but he was told that under no circumstances should he explore further inland, because of those hostile tribes. It must have been very frustrating for him to just explore the settled coast while the trader pursued his own business to the fullest. Eventually, the trading party arrived at Lake Magindanao and when a storm came up, they were all saved by some friendly villagers. Then it turned out that these “friendly” villagers had been dealing with the Chinese merchant before and were quite unhappy with his unethical methods. Soon the battle lines were drawn. The one event that prevented a bloody fight was the surprise attack by some enemy Bagabos; now everyone had to join forces to defend the village against these villains. By the time the enemy was driven off, it was dark and the chief invited Roebbelen to join the village men in their sleeping hut. This hut had been built high up between branches of a very large tree, partly to be safe from surprise attacks and partly to be safe from the mosquitoes. Wearily, the Swiss orchid hunter climbed the crude ladders to his bed in the tree and fell asleep immediately – the day had been long and full of dangers.
During the black jungle night, Roebbelen was awakened by a great shaking of the tree-house, the sound of rushing winds, of breaking bows and splintering timbers, of people stumbling about and falling screaming out of the tree. The shrieks of the injured mingled with the moans of the dying. The explorer realized that an earth-quake was going on and in order to save himself from being thrown to the ground during this upheaval, he strapped himself to a large branch with his belt. He dozed off when the shaking subsided but soon the rising tropical sun woke him again. All was quiet and still in the tree-house; he was all alone. There was destruction everywhere, nothing but splintered wood and gaping holes instead of walls and floor. And there, through a hole in the roof, silhouetted against the rosy morning sky, there was a huge spray of rosy-pink flowers, sprinkled with cinnamon brown flecks. This rosy vision was almost close enough that he could touch it –– YES! It was an orchid! an orchid that had never been seen in Europe.
Of course, Roebbelen managed to collect several of the wonderful plants. Sadly, they never lived to arrive in England; the earth-quake had destroyed all the shipping sites. He managed to bring back drawings of his discovery, but at first no one would believe his wild story. A few years later, some of these plants did arrive in England alive and when they blossomed, both Roebbelen and Sander were vindicated. This marvellous orchid was later named Vanda sanderiana.
How do you grow Vandas? Well, generally they need to be very, very warm, very humid, very sunny and get lots of water. Of course – they also need very good drainage and often do better when you can hang them up or put them on a slab and accept the fact that their roots will – must – hang all over the outside of their pots, baskets or slabs. If you have any species that come from an area very close to the equator, like V. sanderiana, they like little changes in temperatures, both day/night and summer/winter. Many of them like a little drier rest between July/August. Species like the famous blue V. coerulea, from higher elevations in Thailand (and now on CITES Appendix I), like hot summers and cool winters. The hybrids in this group are more accommodating (like most hybrids) and will thrive in captivity, as long as they get enough light and water. Remember, most of our orchids will do better when we give them a bit of cool rest in the winter with less water and fertilizer.
If you want to read this tale in different versions, you can find it written up by F. Boyle, Dr. J. Fowlie, W. Richter, A. Swinton and probably others and of course, the computer.
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress