The sweet and tiny Trachoma phillipsii

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I would like to lead myself into believing that I already have way too many plants, which should explain why, since November when I started seeing spent flowers of these plants, I have not seen the floral display at the height of its anthesis. But no, I think it's just a plain case of inattentiveness. Nothing more, nothing less. Because you see, Trachoma phillipsii is one of my (very) small-flowered orchids that when in bloom, are just very likely to drown unnoticed in a sea of green. I have seen batches of buds about to pop, only to miss the show and realize the boo-boo a day after, after seeing the flowers already closed. You see, the blooms, cute and attractive as they are, only last for a day.


Trachoma phillipsii was described by Timothy Choltco (as Tuberolabium phillipsii) in 2007 and was named in honor of Andy Phillips, the well-known orchidist from California and the importer of the plants from where the original description was taken. The flowers are barely a centimeter across but very sweetly scented. I can sit all day sniffing the delicious scent! Trachoma and its sister genus Tuberolabium both have fragrant blooms, though the latter have noticeable spicy undertones to them. Trachoma flowers just exude pure saccharine joy.

This species may be confused with T. rhopalorrhachis, but according to Choltco (2007) in his protologue, this species ‘is close to Tuberolabium rhopalorrhachis, except the midlobe of the labellum sidelobes are different; the labellum sidelobes are acute, not rounded as in T. rhopalorrachis. The labellum midlobe is a sharp tooth and not a rounded callus as in T. rhopalorrachis. The coloration differs, too, with the lip lacking the reddish to reddish-brown coloration of the labellum found in T. rhopalorrachis.


My clump is grown in a small hanging basket with some bark and placed in a spot where it gets bright, diffused light. Watering is carried out almost everyday (I said "almost" because like everybody else, I have lazy days too) and, like all my other plants, gets fertilized at least twice a week. The oldest plants are about 10 cm tall with bases that are almost totally covered in roots. Despite the plants coming in from higher elevations (around 1000 m asl), I have no trouble maintaining and getting them to flower in my pathetically low elevation growing area- catching the flowers in time is quite a different story, regrettably.

I still don't think I have way too many plants, though...

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