Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

Habenaria rhodocheila subsp. philippinensis Nov. 9- We were driving along a stretch of a road in the province of Laguna when we decided to check out a waterfall where one of my companions, Ronald, said held a population of Begonia tayabensis , one of the few peltate-leaved Begonia species found in the Philippines, a claim later proved true. This spot also supported some terrestrial orchids, notably the common and widespread Calanthe mcgregori  and Geodorum densiflorum , as well as some Hetaeria oblongifolia and Zeuxine . But while photographing plants of the Begonia on a boulder, my eyes caught sight of a white-flowered Habenaria which I initially thought to be H. robinsonii , a species restricted to very few sites on Luzon, in the provinces of Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon. This taxon bear flowers with large, stark white labella and is a showier example in a genus dominated by more cryptic, green-colored blooms. However, I later realized that what we found wasn't this speci...