Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

By some stroke of luck, I discovered that there is a still undescribed Begonia lurking in the mountains behind my property. Belonging to section Petermannia , this plant sports dark, satiny leaves with wavy margins and decorated with a silvery stripe running the length of each leaf. My growing efforts have been dismal; they would root from cuttings (not without some difficulty) but will collapse with nary a warning, sometimes when still small, sometimes when already at flowering sizes. But the most frequent cause of their demise is when the roots are disturbed. I found this out the hard way: cuttings were naturally potted in appropriately sized containers, but when moving them to a larger pot became necessary after roots have formed, that is when tragedy often strikes. Nevertheless, to my delight, I would often find stray plants growing in various areas around the house; these are without a doubt germinated seedlings from the first plants. Since these are very precious plants, ...

Okay, tell me how many times you have seen something like this. Typically for Phalaenopsis stuartiana , the inner halves of the lateral sepals and the labellum midlobe are pale yellow overlaid with dark maroon spots. One of my plants here of this species deviates from the norm by exhibiting no such yellow coloration, the yellow being confined only to the callus and the labellum side lobes, resulting in a 'cleaner' look. Compared to many other stuartianas, this clone begins its flowering period by producing a batch of few buds, with the rachis elongating progressively with more flowers.  Don't read me wrong: I like even normal stuartianas, but I just can't deny that the more ascetic look of this one has a more, shall I say, regal air to it. Can't wait for more of those flowers!

Plants from the genus Medinilla are among the most spectacular shrubs a gardener can possibly have, with the aptly named Medinilla magnifica taking the lion's share of the attention, though with serious competition from Medinilla 'Gregori Hambali'. For such a large and diverse genus, relatively few are known in cultivation. Medinilla annulata  is one of those obscure species that is rarely represented in private collections, although these are by no means rare plants. This species is known from Sulawesi, and Luzon, Polillo, Catanduanes, Mindoro, and Leyte islands in the Philippines, where they grow often as epiphytes from sea level to about 900 m elevations. As is often the case with many medinillas, the number of floral segments may diverge from the usual in some instances. A flower with four segments is shown here. Medinilla annulata  is a slender species that clamber onto surrounding vegetation for support. When the stems come into contact with any ...

Back in 2006, I was given a digital copy of Philippine orchid types kept at the Oakes Ames herbarium in Harvard by slain botanist Leonardo L. Co and trying to match Philippine orchid checklists at that time, I noticed that there was a sheet named Dendrobium forcipatum , an unpublished name attributed to Oakes Ames.  Further investigation revealed that Ames gave the name Dendrobium forcipatum to the specimens collected by C.A. Wenzel (Wenzel 65) in Dagami, Puguahaan, Leyte in May 17, 1913 but apparently did not publish a description paper; there is not even a record of the name in Index Kewensis nor at the International Plant Names Index. Later in 1920, J.J. Smith described a plant that was in cultivation in Bogor, Java, Indonesia, but of unknown provenance and named it as Dendrobium forcipatum J.J. Smith , which is now considered to be conspecific with Flickingeria appendiculata (Bl.) Hawkes (Seidf., 1980) and is clearly not identical to Ames’ plant. Now let's take a step back....

In 2011, Peter Balzer described a new Phaius species as P. antoninae , in honor of his wife Antonina. The new species was compared to P. tankervilleae , and differing from it mainly by way of the sepals and petals being longer than the labellum. In 2017, Judi V. Stone and Phillip J. Cribb absorbed it as a variety of P. tankervilleae , as P. tankervilleae var. antoninae , a decision that stands to this day. I have been keeping this species/variety for quite some years already and find it to be a very accommodating and fast-growing plant. Upon maturity of the leaves, tall inflorescences appear as sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow. As problem-free as these plants are, I have one hang-up: the flowers stay limp instead of opening and advertising themselves up proudly, which is a shame because these are by no means small flowers. If only those blooms will shave away some of their shyness then what a show they would make. Additionally, those blossoms emit a scent simil...

Recently, my attention was drawn to an article which appeared at the Manila Bulletin dated May 2, 2017 and authored by Jim Cootes and Ronny Boos, two personalities whose names are frequently mentioned with regards to the study of orchids in the Philippines. In that article, it was implied that Phalaenopsis schilleriana and P. stuartiana may possibly be one species, with the latter being a variant, as the former was earlier described. It's been years since I talked to these authors about orchids, but if the reverse was true, then I would have advised them that such a supposition is, well, quite absurd. But first, here is a link to the said article: https://newsbits.mb.com.ph/2017/04/30/the-curious-case-of-phalaenopsis-schilleriana-and-phalaenopsis-stuartiana/?fbclid=IwAR1BMepvNb0W8_ckMBDohUNTMkVaonQY1oxs7bJNDf6v8R2xxbuAUJ3mRHk What I did notice at the said article is that the authors failed to take into consideration the shape of the callosities of both species, and their disti...