Water Orchids, Carnivore Orchids

[SvenLittkowski]

Is there anything like a water orchid? An orchid that wants permanent access to some water? Just a question I had...

Also, are there any carnivore orchids?

I am also interested to find a collection of high resolution photos of as many orchids as possible. I want them as changing desktop background. Oh, yes, I know there are around 25,000 different orchids, ha ha ha!

Finally, what are the most unusual types of orchids? Photos welcome!

[delphiguy]

That would be cool to learn of such orchids.... especially carnivorous ones. I believe some
orchids grows in bogs... also i believe there was a study if slipper orchids are carnivorous
i believe the result was that its not....

[catttan]

Many orchids are found in bogs and swamps . In Malaysia, Papilionananthe (Vanda) hookeriana grows in shallow swamps together with reeds and other aquatic plants including water-lilies. Even today a train journey through the Kinta Valley in the state of Perak ( once the world's biggest producer of alluvial tin) will present passengers a chance to see hookeriana growing in situ in the swamps on both sides of the railway lines. There used to be hordes of them but sadly over-collecting have decimated their numbers. Indeed they were so numerous that the early English miners referred to them as the 'Kinta Weed'. The ones that remain today are those that grow in the more inaccessible middle sections of the swamp.

Just as a matter of interest ; P (V) hookeriana is one of the parents of V Miss Joaquim; the other parent being P teres.

[SvenLittkowski]

Thanks, Cattan and DelphiGuy. Cattan, the reason i am asking is, that i have a little "swamp area" at home and wonder, if there's any orchid that don't minds having permanent touch with water. Around that little pond, a number of other plants are growing so it's kinda shady, and many of those plants had their roots growing into the water to my surprise. in fact, I recognized that I haven't to water the soil around the pond anymore - the plants take by themselves the water from the pond and distribute it into the surrounding soil and to themselves.

That is the environment I want to grow some water-loving orchids.

Also, I would like to know, what orchid can accommodate lowest amounts of lights of all orchids, and how much light that would be (in kilo foot candle).

[Cjcorner]

Some of us have plants in what we call, Semi Hydro. There are clay pellets placed in a container with holes about two inches from the bottom. The clay pellets wick the water up to the roots. I have several phalaenopsis growing this way. I've also heard of growing Vanda plants over water. Eventually the roots will grow down into the water and they will adapt to this. If you do a search for "water culture" and "semi hydro" on the site you should find several posts and articles.

[delphiguy]

which reminds me I grow my Papilionanthe Miss Joaquim and Papilionanthe teres in a water
tray of about 4 inches.... exposed to full sun... so those might work for you but you said
that the location is somewhat shaded, so i dont know about that. Maybe some Phrags
would do I heard that some of them grew in swamps also.

[PhilsDC]

Aquatic orchids? Well, there are some orchid loves water but they are semi-aquatic plants.
Orchids are herbaceous plants, if they have retain too much water they'll deteriorate.
Some of them thrive near water like the Spathoglottis in our place, they loved the water splash from the river which makes them so healthy clinging in the rocks.

For carnivorous orchids, I never heard any of them. Maybe they mimic to trap insects like the Bulbophyllum subgenus Lepidorhiza with their very sticky nectar but other means is just to aid pollination to its flower. The ladyslipper orchids mimic like pitcher plants but their structure simply add another way for pollination. When an insect such as bee or wasp attracts flower of its sweet smelling nectar, sometimes they fall down into pouch. The hairs inside the pouch aids the insect to climb and goes out to the staminode area in which the pollen will be carried out to another flower. That's the result of evolution of plants.

Hope this helps for everyone.

[SvenLittkowski]

Thanks, everyone.

Yes, I also never heard about carnivore orchids, but I could think, once we can combine the beauty of orchids with the carnivore features of those plants, we might get some very stunning, breath-taking plants which keep the insect level low inside our homes and attract us still with their beauty. Well, might take another five to ten years before the first genetical engineers might do such.

And about the water orchids I was asking, well, that would make it easy for me to grow them all around my water pond indoors.

Also, I would like to know, what orchid can accommodate lowest amounts of lights of all orchids, and how much light that would be (in kilo foot candle).

[kissa]

Just found in Wiki:

"Aracamunia ... is the sole species in the orchid genus Aracamunia. It is the only orchid strongly suspected of being carnivorous."

Strongly suspected ))
Actually I used to think Nepenthes was an orchid *facepalm*

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P.S. (sorry, can't edit apparently)
Just googled. Google popped a bunch of pics, including Cymbidium, Paph. Maudiae and Nepenthes.
So I have no idea what it looks like. Would love to see it.
The only picture of it I found is this one:

[Catt Mandu]

Habenaria repens grows in very wet conditions in marshes, sometimes on floating mats of vegetation. It is interesting, but not particularly showy. It is probably not a good candidate to grow indoors, though.