Anacamptis (Orchis) coriophora

[lambelkip]

first flower opened:

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

How'd you get a hold of this? Anacamptis spp. are hard to come by in the US trade.

[WhiteRabbit]

very pretty!

[lambelkip]

It was a gift from a fellow member of the central california orchid society. I believe he grew it from seed. It's very difficult to build a collection of terrestrial orchids. Most of them are hard to find here. There's just not enough demand for them, and vendors won't go through the trouble of importing them.
If you know of any vendors that carry some of the european or asian terrestrials, let me know.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Yeah, I know. It's a shame that most European terrestrial orchids are not commonly sold in the US trade. Neither are very many people growing them.

I'm not quite sure which species of orchids you're looking for by your request of dealers that sell Asian terrestrial orchids. There are lots of species of Asian terrestrial orchids that make it to the US. They're not always sold in large quantities all the time, but they're around. Can you narrow it down perhaps?

[lambelkip]

I'm looking for a wide variety of terrestrials, most of which are impossible to find here:
Nervilia, Dactylorhiza, Phaius, Calanthe, Habenaria, Corybas, Ponerorchis, Spiranthes sinensis, Amitostigma, Cephalanthera.
I already have a couple Phaius, Calanthe, and Habenaria species, and a couple varieties of Amitostigma keiskei

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Nervilia - Idk, these are incredibly difficult to find here in the US. Sometimes difficult to import too.

Dactylorhiza - Can be imported from Canada or Europe.

Phaius - Andy's has the largest known selection in the US that I know of. There is also another subdivision of these plants that go by a different genus name (Gastrorchis).

Calanthe - Andy's has a large selection. Can also be imported from Canada.

Habenaria - Gotta be imported from Thailand or Malaysia, and only select species. Habenarias from the US (now in the genus Platanthera) rarely show up, but a couple species are available.

Corybas - Gotta be imported from Malaysia or Australia. I would put up an order from an Australian dealer, but not enough people answered my previous call out for a group order.

Ponerorchis - Andy's, but not in season. Maybe J&L.

Spiranthes sinensis - Idk, these show up randomly. Check Ebay.

Amitostigma - Gotta be imported from Japan. Maybe Andy's or J&L.

Cephalanthera - There are a few private collectors in the US with these, I know because the only company who carried these, just went out of business last year (Asiatica Ltd). Other than that, you gotta work off of seeds or import them from Europe.

This is the general outlook of what to expect.

[lambelkip]

I'm not really ready to import plants, so I pretty much just have to stick with what's available here.
I'll check with Andy to see if he has any of the ones I'm looking for.

I have seed of a couple Platanthera species that I'll try flasking soon.

I might be interested in ordering several Corybas, and possibly other Australian terrestrials. what would it take to make your "group order" happen?

Spiranthes sinensis never seems to show up in U.S. ebay listings. I occasionally see listings from china, but they're too expensive, and it would be too much of a hassle to do the paperwork.

If I could find seeds of Cephalanthera, I'd be happy with that, but I haven't been able to find any yet.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by lambelkip

I have seed of a couple Platanthera species that I'll try flasking soon.

Cool.

Originally Posted by lambelkip

I might be interested in ordering several Corybas, and possibly other Australian terrestrials. what would it take to make your "group order" happen?

10 or more people. At least 10 people. Ideally 20 to make costs more palatable. I know at least one other person on the OB who has expressed some interest. I will only accept less than 10 people in the group order if I happen to hit pay dirt.

CITES and Phyto papers are mad expensive. Shipping costs aren't cheap either.

Each tuber by themselves are fairly inexpensive, so it's easy to make multiple purchases.

The group order must be placed at around November through January. No earlier, no later.

An availability list is only available during the above mentioned time frame as well.

I also have to obtain an import permit by that time as well. The cost of an import permit is something nobody in the group order has to worry about, I will be paying for that myself.

[Andrew]

Lambelkip,
Given that you mention being able to flask seed, have you looked at the terrestrial orchid forum's seedbank?