Thecostele alata

[CTB]

I found one of these, Thanks for introducing me to something new and different. The blooms are just fading, does this bloom once a year?

[glengary54]

Originally Posted by CTB

I found one of these, Thanks for introducing me to something new and different. The blooms are just fading, does this bloom once a year?

Carol - Unfortunately yes, they only bloom once a year but, by the time mine was finished the inflorescense was about 18 inches long and had been in bloom for almost 4 months. Also, it grows like a weed so it's display will get better every year. Have fun and enjoy it, glad I could turn someone onto something different from the run of the mill Phals.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

They have a dormancy too.

[hosshead]

Just received one myself, from a friend in Hawaii!
It is full of flowers... the bulbs are yellow and the leaves are green and healthy looking.

"Hot and Bright".
I am looking for a little more advice on culture, as I am in the "Cold and Dank" sector of the globe.
I have it outside in bright shade with some late sun....would it do better on the east side in morning sun and then shadey/dappled?

Yes....there goes that Sammy guy, worrying about sun
and heat again....

[glengary54]

Sammy - Being that I don't know your light conditions, what I can tell you is that you can grow it under Oncidium contions and it will do fine. Hope that helps.

[hosshead]

Yes, it is helpful.
So, I grow it under the conditions that work for Oncidiums HERE.

It's amazing how different conditions can be, from one locale to another.

I have a buddy in Alabama who does Encyclias.
What works for him down there can kill Enc's that he has sent to me once they have arrived.
I find that one ends up having to take into account the various environmental factors that change when an orchid travels..... you think you are duplicating conditions...but it doesn't always turn out to be so.

For me, one of the things I like about orchids is the having to pay attention to the details on that plant that tell you it is becoming unhappy so you can save it before it is too late! I like fiddling about the greenhouse and the summer growing space to note those details.

[glengary54]

I'm in and out of the greenhouse all day long and I notice something diffeent every time. I hand water at least once a week so that I can pick up random plants to see how they are doing. Its kind of hard to look closely at all 795 plants everyday, but I have been growing for so long, I can spot a problem in my greenhouse as soon as I walk in. Luckily I have very few culture issues, mine are all, for the most part, bug and fungi related. Welcome to Florida!

[Cym Ladye]

Thecostele is a genus of orchids (family Orchidaceae) and of subtribe Eulophiinae[1].. There are 9 species, distributed in the Himalaya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines.

This genus is not in the Cymbidium alliance. Perhaps a moderator would consider moving it to an alliance more appropriate?

[glengary54]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Thecostele is a genus of orchids (family Orchidaceae) and of subtribe Eulophiinae[1].. There are 9 species, distributed in the Himalaya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and the Philippines.

This genus is not in the Cymbidium alliance. Perhaps a moderator would consider moving it to an alliance more appropriate?

Perhaps the moderators could do some research of their own before they go moving anything around. Just because you were able to copy incorrect information from the internet doesn't make you right. There was at one time thought to be several species, some were moved to the genus Thecopus and the others were found to be synonyms for alata and it is indeed a part of the Cympidieae Tribe.

Thecostele Rchb. f. 1857 SUBFAMILY Epidendroideae, TRIBE Cymbidieae SUBTRIBE Thecostelinae
A monotypic genus widespread in SE Asia and surrounding Islands to the Philippines that is a small to medium sized epiphyte that can lose all it's leaves through the winter before blooming and new growth onset. The flowers have subequal, broad sepals, the laterals anrrowly attached close to the ovary and the petals are much narrower. The lip is connate with the column foot and is three lobed and has small, erect sidelobes with a small raised, conical callus on each side of the proximal face. The lidlobe is broadly ovate and is glandular puberulent on the inner face. The s curved column is replicate and the apex has a pair of forward stretching arms with 2, cleft pollina with small, shorter than broad and is on a broad semicircular viscidium.

[Cym Ladye]

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Cymbidieae
Subtribe: Eulophiinae
Genus: Thecostele

I am sorry I did not quote the full description from Riechenbach, I felt I needed to paraphrase only that which was pertinent and to be succinct. Why not put it in epidendrum, it is in that subfamily?

Just because an orchid is listed in the Cymbidieae tribe does not put it in the Cymbidium Alliance. ALLIANCE IS THE KEY WORD HERE. You lump, I will split, and we can agree to disagree.

CL