Haraella retrolalla (odorata) - Orchid Board

wisdomseeker · #1 12-20-2018, 12:13 AM

Haraella "something" o-La-LLa . Hard for me to keep up with the name changes, but I believe it is now called H. retrocalla. Was known to me as H. odorata when first acquiring these plants and think it was 'coined' as a Gastrochilus before that.

This species has been posted and discussed many-many times, but I really enjoy this particular plant (it is a very easy & hardy miniature that fits well into most collections, especially with other humidity lovers).

Most of my mature plants faithfully bloom about 3-4 times a year. I've heard from others that the flower has a lemon-like fragrance. Never been able to pick up on the scent, although my sense of smell isn't the best. Leaves on this orchid have always reminded me of a Phalenopsis.

fishmom · #2 12-20-2018, 01:29 PM

I love these plants! They are so generous with thier tiny blooms. I do get a faint citrusy fragrance from mine.

wisdomseeker · #3 12-20-2018, 08:07 PM

Appreciate the confirmation about the citrusy fragrance. After reading your post I started thinking about my sense of smell, and for some weird reason, began thinking about the movie Perfume (2006 with Dustin Hoffman).

Curiosity got the best of me, so I put another nose to the test (she said there was definitely a light citrus scent).

camille1585 · #4 12-21-2018, 10:34 AM

Cute little plant! This is one of my favorite minis, it's too adorable. Is that live moss on the mount?

About the scent, I went through 3 of these (back when I was a newbie grower and really good at killing plants) and none had the same fragrance. One only had a faint lemon scent. The 2 others smelled quite strongly, but they were very different scents. One smelled like real lemons, while the other had a somewhat unpleasant artificial lemon scent.

wisdomseeker · #5 12-21-2018, 12:19 PM

Thanks and I appreciate your comments.

Good to know the fragrance has varying scents. Never really picked-up on the scent, or I guess I should say: I probably didn't give it much thought when these plants have flowered. Got close & personal this morning (nose next to bloom) and did pick up a slight whiff of sweet scent. Guess my sense of smell is not totally gone after all.

Sharp eye... yes, that is live sphagnum on the mount. I use different type mounts (usually what I have laying around & easy access to), but had an excess of compressed cork in the attic. I try to incorporate the live moss into my humidity set-ups, and on the mounts.

I'll use a layer of NZ sphag for a base and then add the live moss. When the live sphagnum doesn't behave (over taking the mount) I'll snip it down close with a pair of scissors. It grows back at a moderate rate, starts to misbehave again, and I trim again.

Also use live sphagnum in the bottom of my set-ups. An easy moss to work with. Starts getting out of hand, I trim it back... really helps a lot with humidity. I've also noticed very little, to none, algal growth anywhere (mounts, glass, etc.) when I use live sphagnum > nothing scientific, just observation. I guess observation can be a part of science though.