Interesting Marks on Phal Roots

[Judi]

I just purchased a phal noid. I love the flowers, and it is a compact little plant, the biggest leaves are around 6” long and 2-3” wide. I always repot when I get a new phal—this one had earwigs in the medium Anyway, I noticed the roots had these little white dash like marks on them. At first I panicked thinking they were some sort of eggs; then I realized it was marking on the roots—like a dashed line running the length of the root—more pronounced after soaking the roots for repot. I have never seen this before, does anyone have an idea if this might be specific to a certain phal that might be in the lineage of the one I have? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't know specifically what the white spotting are called. But they are normal for most epiphytical orchids.

No need to worry about them.

[greenbean]

King is right, most epiphytic orchids have the white spots.

I had to look it up, but they are referred to as "pneumathodes". They are the roots equivalent of stomata and aid in gas exchange. They are more prominent on orchids with large roots, like Phalaenopsis, probably because the thicker velamin requires greater capacity for gas exchange to balance out the moisture retention of the velamin.

I've noticed these before, but never had the motivation to do the research. Thanks for asking the question!

[HeidiN]

I've noticed them more on my phal's air-roots than on the other roots.

[Judi]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I guess I havn't noticed them before; here I was thinking I had a special orchid--but wait, they're all special And learning about "pneumathodes" was totally cool!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Definitely learned something new here!

Like greenbean had said, always see them, never bothered to do the research.

Thanks.

[sheeba]

me too learnt something new today from here. Even I used to wonder about these white spots, now I know they are called "pneumathodes'

thanks