Tolumnia sylvestre

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This came from Andy's in December 2015. It had two fans, each with an old bloom spike. They were dead at the tips.

One spike had a plantlet, which has continued to enlarge. The other grew a new branch, and today opened a flower. The two fans are currently pushing one new growth each.

So far, the flower is nearly pure white, with no fragrance. There is another bud not far behind, opening a little yellowish, but it will soon turn white.

In the whole-plant photo with my red Ford pickup, the small white flower can be seen against the tree across the street.

Before long I should be posting T. guianensis and T. urophylla.

I hang all of them in my sunroom near the window. They get about 6 hours of direct morning sun through 30% shade cloth hanging outside the window. I try to wet them at least daily with a spray bottle, including the plantlets on the old bloom stalks. About 2-3 times per week I soak them for 6-12 hours in rain water. They get MSU fertilizer at about 40ppm nitrogen every week or so.

For some reason, no matter how I try to rotate the photo on my computer, the flower photo displays upside-down.

[twinofmunin]

Wow, that is a *long* bloom stalk! Congrats on the rebloom.

Thank you for sharing your photos and cultural info.

[AndreaK]

Ha, ha, I love how everything in our lives become hangers for orchids!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Ok so I can see the upside down bloom but the other picture won't come up for me. I think these little ones are so cute.

[u bada]

Not sure how I missed this... soooo cute. Wanted to touch base with you about your tolumnia. My sylvestre didn't spike but it looks different than yours, the fans are tiny...

the guianensis and ulophylla have been forming spikes... looking forward to seeing your guianensis.

this one's super cute, hope mine starts spiking eventually... we're getting a bit of a "cold spell" here... had them outside for a little while but brought them in...

[samfish]

I have the same plant from Andy's, but I think it is a misID.

As U Bada mentions, Columbia sylvestris/sylvestris is a very small plant with fans no larger than 1".

My plant has not flowered but also has keiki's on the old spike.

I was only aware of Tolumnia prionochila and Tolumnia urophylla growing keiki's, but these species have Yellow flowers.


I have not been able to confirm the true ID of the plants from Andy's, but it is not sylvestre

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Here are closeups of my flower. I don't have a good light and these were taken in full sun.

My flowers have been open over a week and have no scent. T. sylvestris is supposed to be scented. T. bahamense on IOSPE looks a lot like this photo and is supposed to be unscented.

I don't think presence or absence of offsetting is a useful diagnostic character for plants in cultivation. Numerous monocots that normally don't form adventitious plants, along the inflorescence or from the main stem, in the wild, have been selected by gardeners for general propagation and distribution. They are much easier to propagate this way than from seed. Good examples are Agave species angustifolia ssp tequilana, murpheyi, quiengola and vilmoriniana.

Agave murpheyi is only known from ancient human agricultural plots, and is thought to be a human-developed varietal. It is extremely delicious when cooked for 3 days in a stone pit, with the sweetness and consistency of fudge. It does not set seed; it forms 3 plantlets at each flower, one for each carpel in the ovary. An inflorescence produces thousands of plantlets, which will mature much faster, and with little or no care, compared to growing from seed.

[Subrosa]

I need to try another Tolumnia........

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So far, they're much easier than I anticipated, perhaps the easiest ones I have other than Eulophia petersii. I'm going to keep them inside the house in a sunny window this summer. I don't believe they require high humidity.

[samfish]

It is not Tolumnia bahamensis, the leaves of that plant are very different, almost terete.

The additional photos help, I am investigating further to find out what species it is!!!