Orchids of Malaysia

Malaysia is known for her lush tropical rainforests covering the large portion of the peninsular and the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Malaysia is also known for her beautiful orchid species ( Flora of Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia and Biodiversity and Conservation of Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia ) such as the Vanda and Phalaenopsis found in their natural habitats as well as in cultivation. With the country's fast development towards industrialization, large tracts of the rainforests, like elsewhere, have been lost due to lumbering and other human activities. 

Orchids belong to the largest family of flowering plants, the Orchidaceae, which includes some 19,500 species in 804 genera ( Dressler, 1993 )． Of these, 854 species covering 141 genera are said to be indigenous to Peninsular Malaysia ( Seidenfaden and Wood, 1992 ) and over 1400 species in 147 genera to Borneo (Chan et al. 1994 ). Many of the orchid species, for example, the Paphiopedilum and Vanda are so showy that they are said to be in extinction in their natural habitats due more to horticultural collections than developmental activities. Even other inconspicuous orchids are also endangered because of their horticultural value as rare plants. As such, most of the orchid species are now listed as endangered species ( Pritchard 1989, Reid and Miller 1989, Waite 1989, Wood 1989 ). 

Although terrestrial orchids are less popular as commercial or ornamental plants compared to epiphytic orchids, many of them are equally attractive and worth preserving as germplasm for breeding purposes. Among these, Spathoglottis plicata, Arundina bambusifolia and Calanthe triplicata were selected for studies on conservation, breeding and artificial micropropagation. The justifications are ; 1) they are hardy and beautiful as pot plants or as garden orchids ; 2) because they are not as popular as Phalaenopsis or Dendrobium, they are not propagated in vitro but collected direct from their natural habitats, hence making them endangered ; 3) they are widely distributed both in Japan and in South East Asia and research fields are still available. 

Ecological survey of the wild orchids ( Wells and Willems 1991 ) is useful for not only their conservation but also their cultivation. In the present study, the authors focused on the genus Spathoglottis considering its presence in the natural habitats as well as the ecological conditions in which it grows. 

The genus Spathoglottis consists of about 40 species, widely distributed in the regions from India, southern Japan and China, down through the islands of the Pacific and northern Australia ( Seidenfaden and Wood, 1992 ). In Malaysia, six and seven species of the genus Spathoglottis grow wild in peninsular and Borneo, respectively. Spa. plicata is the most common species in the genus found growing either in the lowlands or elevated areas of Malay Peninsular and Borneo, Malaysia and Iriomote Island, southern part of Japan. The flowers of Spa. plicata can be in different shades of purple including white, as well as variations in shapes which attract collectors. 

Common Name or Meaning The Small-Lipped Spathoglottis

Flower Size 2 1/4" [5.5 cm]

Found in penninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and New Guinea in lower montane forests on roadside banks, ditches, edges of secondary forests and among mossy rocks near rivers at elevations of 900 to 1700 meters as a small to medium sized, warm growing terrestrial orchid with close set, ovoid pseudobulbs each carrying two to three, lanceolate, acuminate, plicate, petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer in situ on a 2" or more [60 cm+] long, racemose inflorescence with flowers that may be self-pollinating and not open well.

J.J.Wood writes that S microchilina "has a very narrow, pointed, almost thread-like lip, only 1mm wide, whereas the lip of S aurea may be as mucha as 4mm wide and generally is a little more expanded and obtuse at the tip. The flowers of S aurea from Penninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and java, and now also recorded from Mt kinabalu are generally larger and of a darker yellow hue. Holttum [1964] admitted that S microchilina needed more field study and it seems possible that we are dealing here with one rather variable species."

Common Name Lobb's Bulbophyllum

Flower Size 3-4" Across [7.5 to 10 cm]

This unifoliate, small to medium sized, hot to warm growing epiphytic species is from Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines at altitudes of 200 to 2000 meters in lowland and montane forests on trunks and main branches of trees and has well spaced pseudobulbs with a persistent sheath that split into yellow fibers and carries a single, apical, leathery leaf and blooms on an erect, to 6" [15 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence that arises from a node on the rhizome and blooms in the summer on a large, fragrant, single flower on each new pseudobulb held at mid leaf. They are hot to warm growing and do best mounted or in a pot with a well draining medium and regular water and fertilizer but have caution, as the new pseudobulbs develop, is when fungus will occur from overwatering.

Common Name The Bearded Paphiopedilum - In Thailand V'ang u'ng

Flower Size to 3 1/5" [8 cm]

Found in Malaysia and penninsular Thailand in moist shady valleys on granite boulders covered with moss or on the ground in mossy and sandy or peaty areas at elevations of 700 to 1300 meters as a medium sized terrestrial with narrowly elliptic, thin in texture, dull and dark green mottled leaves that blooms in the spring on a 10" [25 cm] long, single [ocasionally 2] flowered inflorescence with a floral bract that is 1/4 the length of the ovary.

Common Name The Fragrant Aerides - In Thailand Kulap khao - Ueang pao - Kulap krapao pit - In China Xiang Hua Zhi Jia Lan

Flower Size 1 to 1 3/4" [2.5 to 4.4 cm]

This species is the type species for the genus and is widespread through the Chineses Himalayas, western Himalayas, Assam, Bangladesh, eastern Himalayas, India, Nepal, Andaman Islands, Myanamar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Penninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and the Philippines occuring in broadleaf evergreen lowland forests as a large to giant sized, highly variable, hot to cool growing epiphyte at elevations of 200 to 2000 meters high up in trees in bright sun with very stout, drooping, branching stems carrying fleshy, incurved, oblong-ligulate, round lobed at the apex, broad, pale green leaves. As it's name implies it is highly fragrant and blooms in the late spring through fall on up to 3, sharply pendant, to 2' [60 cm] long, many [to 30] flowered, cylindric inflorescence that arise out of the leaf axils and as developing can be very sticky and giving rise to many, waxy, very fragrant flowers.