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From the President

Autumn has come with a vengeance. It looks as though the weather is misbehaving all across Canada. I have spent the last 2 weeks cleaning up my garden and bringing in plants for over-wintering. My biggest project which, I am sure I share with everyone else, is finding a place for those orchids that spent the summer out of doors. I have juggled, squeezed, shoe-horned and built new shelves, I think I finally have them all in. Oops! still have to find a place for those Cymbidiums (they can stay out a little longer). Having the blooming season ahead makes it all worthwhile. I have a few plants in spike that have not bloomed before so am really waiting with bated breath. We always hope this one will be a winner.

Everyone is looking forward to the Show season, just to see what is new and wonderful. I attended the Foothills Show in Calgary, it was a great show. Two of the plants awarded where Phragmipediums, they were awesome! They were both besseae crosses.

Hope everyone has a Wonderful Christmas and all the Best for the New year.

Lynne Cassidy, President

COC Web Site

Do you know the common name for an orchid and want to know the scientific name for it?

Do you know the scientific name but would like something a little easier to pronounce?

How about a list of fragrant orchids?

Or a list of orchids that are more than likely to have flowers, as opposed to those one-day wonders?

Just go to the COC web site at http://www.CanadianOrchidCongress.ca/ and select "FAQ" from the side menu.

Speakers Tour

The tour again proved to be a huge success. I have had very good reports from all across Canada. I am sure that Judy Adams and Terry & Doug Kennedy can empathize with the following. Francisco Miranda arrived with huge boxes of plants that had to be sorted for the eastern Canada pre-orders. These were spread all over his hotel room in Toronto, with the help of Terry and Doug they were all sorted with the exception of the E.C.O.S. orders.

He arrived in Vancouver with two huge boxes of pre-orders and sales plants. These were spread all over my kitchen (which is fairly large). They were on the counters, my sideboard, the stove, the floor and the table with just very small spaces to put our feet. We managed to get them all sorted in one afternoon. I wish I had taken a picture. I guess these sort of thing is what makes it fun.

I hope everyone enjoyed the programs.

Slide Programs

The Oncidium program is in the process of being fine tuned by Gordon Heaps. He is also adding some new slides and he will be inserting instructions on the script as to when the slides should be changed. Ken Girard has PROMISED he will have his programs ready shortly. That will mean we will have Cattleyas and Laelias, as well as the Oncidiums, Hardy Orchids and their Culture, and Fragrant Orchids.

The slide programs are available for loan to the societies. When reserving a program please include a cheque for $10.00 to cover cost of shipping and insurance. A cheque for $25.00 will be required as a deposit and will be returned as soon as the program is returned. These can be reserved from:

Canadian Orchid Congress
c/o Janette Richardson
38 Straub Crescent,
Regina, SK S4T 6S6

Telephone: (306) 543-0560.

Any Society News?

Would the C.O.C. Representatives please report any news that their society would like to see published in this newsletter. Please forward to Jerry Bolce newsletter Editor.

C.O.C. Show & Meetings

Show and Meeting 2002

The show is being held in Saskatoon, March 21 - 24, 2002 in conjunction with the Saskatoon Gardenscape, at the Saskatoon Prairieland Exhibition Park. I hope that many of you will make the effort to attend. These meeting are an opportunity to meet members from other societies and to exchange information and ideas. They are a lot of FUN! Please remember to bring a plant or orchid related item for the auction.

Show and Meeting 2003

Hosted by: Southern Ontario Orchid Society, Toronto, Ontario

Show and Meeting 2004

ANY SOCIETY WISHING TO HOST 2004 PLEASE ADVISE THE C.O.C. PRESIDENT. Any Society hosting a COC Show and Meeting will received half of the proceeds from the auction which is held at these shows.

Show and Meeting 2005

Hosted by: Foothills Orchid Society, Calgary, Alberta.

CONSERVATION OF ORCHIDS - Jacquiniella and Jumellea

Jaquiniella and Jumellea are two orchid genera having fragrant flowers. New World Jacquiniella is not particularly showy although the night-fragrant blooms and interesting foliage merits inclusion in collections. Jumellea is an Old World genus centered in Madagascar. The mostly white flowers are showy and highly fragrant. Excellent photos of both genera may be viewed at the Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia: http://www.orchidspecies.com/indexjkl.htm

The generic name of Jacquiniella given by Schlecter in 1920, honors Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin (1727-1817) of Leiden, Holland, who first studied medicine and then participated in early scientific expeditions to Central America, returning with extensive collections of animals, plants, minerals and other items. He went on to become the Director of the Botanical Gardens of the University of Vienna. The few species known before this time were
simply Epidendrum. The genus Jacquiniella is comprised of a dozen mostly epiphytic species ranging from Mexico through Central and South America. Species are categorized by the foliage which may be either laterally flattened or terete. Intermediate to warm-growing Jacquiniella equitantifolia of Mexico and Central America is an upright grower with elongated stems of glossy, flattened, distichous, terete leaves. If you remove all the leaves, you are left with a slender stem topped with a compact and complex inflorescence emerging from a terminal leaf or bract. The inflorescence branches and re-branches, producing one or two blooms at a time over an extended period of perhaps two years. All the while, new shoots form and mature so many stems of different ages are blooming at the same time. The dime-sized orangish blooms are night fragrant of lilies: blooms last about 5-7 days. A close look at the flower reveals the feature that distinguishes Jacquiniella from Epidendrum and other allies. The lip is tightly rolled and fused such that only a moth tongue can reach the nectar. Within the flower, the stigma has protrusions which further restrict access to the flower throat. When the tongue is withdrawn, the pollinia become attached. Inserting and withdrawing a fine needle is equally efficient in removing and depositing pollen. Some species are said to be self-pollinating but. J. equitantifolia is not. Fruits mature in about 90 days.

Jacquiniella globosa is perhaps the widest ranging species as it is found in Puerto Rico and Trinidad as well as Mexico, Central America, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. This rather unassuming pendulous, tufted epiphyte grows in light shade at elevations of 300 m to 2000 m. The specific epithet refers to the globose green fruit. Flower buds are a promising red-purple but the flowers are small and barely open. Jacquiniella gigantea is the largest and perhaps the rarest species, found in a restricted montane rainforest and elfin forest habitat at about 1500 m in Chiapas, Mexico and in neighboring Guatemala. Stems hang in clumps that are more than three feet long. There are four to six whip-like terete leaves per stem. The solitary, three-quarter inch long flower hangs down and is usually self-pollinating. Flowers are odorless, green suffused with purple.

A visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium at http://mobot.org provides with an overview of specimens in that collection and an image of an herbarium specimen of Jacquiniella teretifolia from Panama. This herbarium sheet reveals not only where the plant was collected but also provides a peek into who looked at the specimen and verified or changed its name.

Jumellea is a genus of perhaps 60-80 species found principally in Madagascar but also in mainland Africa, Reunion Island, Mauritius and the Comoros Islands. Possibly the best known in collections is Jumellea sagittata but J. fragrans (Mauritius) and J. comorensis (Comoros) are also popular because of their showy fragrant blooms. Jumellea plants exhibit a monopodial habit. Offsets can form at the base of a plant with age. Some plants grow upright while others exhibit a vining habit. Many species grow at 1000-2000 m in elfin or lichen forest where there are high winds or at lower elevations in moist wet moss forest. Jumellea saggittata produces handsome fans of strap-like leaves. Flowers, one to a stem, are produced from the leaf axils. Grow this plant moist but reduce water somewhat after blooming. The major conservation challenge to this as to many Madagascar orchids is loss of habitat.

Copyright Marilyn H.S. Light 2000
First seen on Orchid safari in August 2000.
www.orchidsafari.org

UPCOMING EVENTS

2001

Nov 10-11: Niagara Region OS, Queen Elizabeth Centre, Facer St. (QEW and Niagara St), St Catherines

2002

February 16-17: Southern Ontario Orchid Society, Toronto Civic Garden Centre, 777 Lawrence Ave. E at Leslie St., Toronto, Ontario. "http://www.soos.ca/"

March 9-10: London Orchid Society Orchid Show, London.
For show information: "http://los.lon.imag.net/losshows.htm"

March 22-24: The Canadian Orchid Congress Annual Meeting in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Orchid Society orchid show.
The Co-chairs are: Faithe Prodanuk - faithep@home.com
Tracey Thue - thue@sask.usask.ca

April 4-7: Victoria Orchid Society Orchid Show. It will be in the Student's Union Building of the University of Victoria. Contact: "Ingrid Ostrander" email: ifl@telus.net 250-652-6133
"http://www.members.home.net/bearman1/"

April 24-May 2: The 17th World Orchid Conference is being held at Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. For information check
"http://www.orchid2002.com.my/"

May 4-5: The Vancouver Orchid Society at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library, right downtown Vancouver. Regular charge is $6, $1 off with coupon. "http://www.hedgerows.com/Canada/clubbrochures/VancOrchidSoc.htm"

Sept 28-29: Central Ontario Orchid Society, the lower level of the University Centre Building at the University of Guelph, Guelph
"http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/coos.html"

2003

April 3 - 5: The 2003 Mid America Orchid Congress and Show will be hosted by the Southern Ontario Orchid Society at The Inn on the Park at Eglington Avenue East and Leslie Street.

The purpose of COC news is to inform members of the meetings, policies of the COC, to profile members, and to provide technical information regarding happenings, trends and techniques in orchid culivation across the country and around the world.

We welcome your suggestions and contributions. Deadline for each issue is one month before the issue dates previously announced.

Recipients of this newsletter are strongly urged to pass a copy on to other members of their society

Officers of the Canadian Orchid Congress

COC Web Site - http://www.CanadianOrchidCongress.ca/
Please send in your show information - date, location, contact, etc.

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