Saccolabium quisumbingii - a little sweetie

[Dorsetman]

I wonder how many growers know this little sweetie ? Flowers less than 1/2 inch across , but usually two spikes, often three, sometimes twice a year , and on a sunny morning, they can fill my ( fairly large - 35 foot long) greenhouse with perfume.
The perhaps strange name ( it is to English ears, anyway ! ) comes from the name of the Spanish (?) Consul - Baron Quisumbing , in Manila (?) in the days when new orchids were being discovered all over the world by collectors sent out by the "great" English orchid firms. In particular Sanders Orchids. The Baron is said to have been very helpful in enabling the collectors to get to the other islands in the Phillipines - I guess there were no commercial ferries back then - about 1870 or thereabouts - thus enabling Vanda sanderiana ( amongst other lovely things) to be discovered and stripped away from the wild. I have mixed feelings about that. I'm so glad to have these lovely orchids in my collection - just wish they were still there in the wild, to go and see- too... but you can't have it both ways ( an old English Proverb). Anyway, the Baron got to have this sweetie named after him.
Its vaguely vandaceous, leafspan about 6 inches, grows in a hanging basket, previously in fine bark, now in moss in an attempt to get new growths as well as flowers. Most of these vandaceous smaller things will do that, if you are very clever , or if you are told how to do it ( can anyone tell me in this case ? I'd love to know !

[Kmac]

I love it. And from the Phillippines, I bet it tolerates warmth reasonably well. I think I might just need one of these!

Kathi

[ManilaByNight]

I love it. And from the Phillippines, I bet it tolerates warmth reasonably well. I think I might just need one of these!

Kathi

Kathi though you are correct that it comes from my country, the Philippines, but Tuberolabium Quisumbingii is endemic to our cool mountain forests up North.

Thus you have to be able to give it the cool, mossy, humid/misty environment that is typical of mountainous tropical cloud forests where it best thrives in. I guess Geoff won't have much of a problem in growing this since England does get pretty cold over there and his greenhouse provides much of the needed humidity the plant enjoys. The plant loves plenty of light and where it can regularly dry out in between mistings/humidity in the air. It likes a drastic temperature differential drop from day to night. Just imagine the environment if you are living up in a tropical cloud forest. (Hmmm .... that reminds me so much of Cxcanh's photos on his thread when he went up mountain climbing up in Vietnam's cloud forests in Fansipan.)

I am able to grow this here in Manila in my grow area where I can provide the humidity because of my daily watering and frequent misting but because I am unable to attain the very cool environment that the plant needs in order to induce it to flower, it just gets bigger and bigger but no flowers! Well, at least I'm happy that I am successful in growing it here in lowland Manila - who knows by some strange twist of "climatic" fate, it might just surprise me one morning when it does flower. Hmmm ..... the days and nights have lately been getting cooler here due to the November-December months .... who knows?

And yes, most in the Tuberolabium family is scented specially this one which has the heaviest perfume of them all. That is why I LOVE this orchid so much despite the small size of its flowers. One can be misled by the small size of its flowers - the perfume from this sweetie can really be so powerful! On close-up view, the Tuberolabiums sure have pretty, colorful flowers specially on its lip!

Cheers all!

[harvey]

a nice and interesting story, thank you. And beautiful pictures.
P.

[Cjcorner]

I like the little things...highly scented is a bonus for me. I have a plant in bloom out back on the porch that is smelling wonderful. I like the perfumey plants now...

[nen]

Too cute and very beautiful! thanks for posting as I had never seen or heard of this!

[ang709]

Adorable! I love it.

[boyong]

it looks much like tuberolabium quisumbingii, i wonder if it's the same specie

[delphiguy]

it looks much like tuberolabium quisumbingii, i wonder if it's the same specie

Boy, its a synonym of Tuberolabium quisumbingii from what I gather at IOSPE.
Anyways was able to reacquire another one of these since the first one i've got
i've lost to the harsh summer.... now I've got better conditions for them,
fingers crossed they'll make it.

[walingwaling]

nicely grown geoff!
this species is still out there in the wild. i also found it horrible how they collected orchids in the older days, especially e.sanderiana. thousands of trees were chopped down coz of that, and only a small percentage of collected plants survived those long trips back to europe.