Rossioiglossum Rawdon Jester
Rossioglossum ( which were odontoglossums in the past ) is a genus of some 7 species, all quite showy plants, and not at all difficult to grow, as long as you can keep the watering can hidden for several months and give them a good rest. They mostly come from Mexico and neighbours, but unfortunately they don't come to Europe nowadays, due to CITES and perhaps lacking an energetic/enterprising nursery/dealer - for although our CITES fees in UK are horrible - one set of fees ( say US$100 ) would cover as many plants and species (in one genus) as you like .
I have tried to get Mexican dealers interested , and would happily arrange a private importation of say 10 each of all the species, for I reckon that after taking one of each myself I could easily sell the rest - but I never get any reply. Frustrating !.
I have only ever seen 4 of the 7 in my more than 50 years growing and showing in UK, and most of those were in the distant past. More recently, trying to collect them, I have acquired 3 species and about 3 different hybrids and I doubt I shall be able gto find more, though I do keep looking. "If you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true " ? - ( South Pacific ).
This one Rawdon Jester, was bred by an old friend of mine when he ran a major UK nursery in the north of England - long since defunct - their 17 or 18 greenhouses just a memory in a housing estate probably called Orchid Avenue....
Flowers here about 6 inches across , extremely hard to tell apart from either of its two parents - R.grande or R.williamsianum, except in its flowering season.
As you can see, my plant here is a back-bulb propagation, and has not yet got up to the size of the oldest bulb , so way to go. When it does it might have slightly bigger flowers, and certainly more of them.
R.grande is called the 'clown orchid"; thw last of my pics shows the clown, or jester, in close-up.
Reply With Quote
A town near me had a 7 acre fairground that was established in the 1870's. 4 years ago the town sold it to a developer who promptly built a housing survey on it. Fairground Estates.
