Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitzelweller
Philip, Have you ever seen a Huntleya "in the flesh"? There is no way that Huntleya roots are 3/8" in diameter!
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I grew one sometime starting in mid February, 2010. It was what Ecuagenera sold me as "
Huntleya maleagris", which I thought may have actually been
Huntleya burtii.
Ecuagenera is out of them for now...
It may not have been a full grown specimen, but it was definitely flowering sized (note: in my conversations with Carl in the visitor's message section, I did say that I thought my plant was not blooming sized; but I was wrong, and when I had said that, I had actually not seen a plant with a flower in real life before). It stood roughly 6 - 7 inches tall. Although I didn't take an actual measurement, I recalled that it may have had a total leafspan of approximately 8" - 10" across.
Each leaf had the texture of what I can best describe as being like that of the leaf of a
Neoregelia type bromeliad. Leaves are arranged in the same formation as that of any other pseudobulbless Zygo, I believe the best way to describe it is that they were alternating and "fan-like". If I remember correctly, each leaf was roughly 1" - 1 1/2" across. The leaves were rounded at the ends with a pointed tip.
The leaf axils were large and resembled reservoirs such as those found in
Neoregelia type bromeliads. Within those reservoirs, there appeared to be roots, although I'm not sure what they were doing there considering I never grew the plant out long enough to figure it out. I did do tests on the plant I previously owned to see if those reservoirs behaved like the reservoirs of bromeliads, and I can safely say that it most certainly does not. The water drains immediately and does not hold any water for any length of time.
The above info about the leaf axils forming reservoirs is not mentioned in any of the literature that I'm aware of. I have leafed through my book "Huntleyas and Related Orchids" by Patricia Harding, and this detail is not remotely mentioned at all. This detail is also very difficult to see in photos of the plant. Only someone who has owned this plant or has paid close attention to a plant they've seen will know this.
Each growth is arranged along a thick rhizome. The growths are spaced fairly close together, (probably around 1/4" - 1/2" apart from each other).
The plant itself is pretty hefty for a pseudobulbless Zygo. It is compressed, but not to the same degree of compression as say a
Warczewiczella spp.; like I said, it had some substance and could've been anywhere between 3/4" - 1" thick.
Although most of the roots were damaged upon arrival, (as is the case most of the times with overseas imports), there were a few living roots left that were not in the best of shape, (if I had to dig back in my memory, it could've been something like 3 - 5 living roots). Those living roots were not thin roots, as Carl had mentioned. They were somewhere around 1/4" to 3/8" thick, no thinner than 1/4", and no thicker than 3/8" (at least that's what I recalled from eyeballing their approximate sizes).
3/8" is only slightly larger than 1/4".
The plant I owned was around for roughly about 1 month give or take about a 1 week or 2, and therefore is pretty consistent with what Carl had mentioned about the plant starting to show signs of distress after about 1 month, if there's something going wrong.
I have had a brief discussion with Carl (aka Angurek) regarding both of our Huntleyas starting on Feb 15, 2010, which can be viewed publicly in me and Carl's public profile in the visitor's message section. I initiated the contact with Carl and you can see that in his public profile in the visitor's message section. The rest of the conversation you can view under my public profile, which I think starts at page 6.
I have also seen the Huntleyas that Andy from Andy's Orchid sells multiple times when he brings them to shows since the time he put his plants up for sale on his listings.
Andy grows his in those black plastic net pots (I believe they were in 4" pots) in straight up moss.
I have been eyeing the ones that Andy sells for quite a while, but have been put off by the pricing and the level of difficulty this plant poses in relation to what I saw of the flowers when I saw them in bloom. I was surprised to see how washed out the coloration was on the flowers. Now maybe it could've been that the flowers were on their way out or it could've been a lighter colored variant, idk. I just couldn't justify the purchase based off of what I saw.
However, I may change my mind and decide to give Huntleyas a try again when the next upcoming show comes around the corner.
In regards to the flower size, according to the specimens I saw Andy bring to the shows...
Just from eyeballing their size, I think they were anywhere between 3" - 3 1/2" across.
So yes, I have seen Huntleyas "in the flesh", and I have really attempted to grow one. My measurements could be off by a little, but I don't think I'm terribly off. At least I didn't say that the roots were 1/2" thick, which would have been ludicrous.
Why? Have you seen and/or grown one yourself?
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