African Orchid - can anyone name it ?
 

I have been given a division of this by my mother who has had the plant for over 30 years ..(from Kenya)
The flowers are small & yellow (many flowers per bract). She tells me they look similar in shape to the flowers of the Doum Palm and are yellow.
Here is a photo of the plant as well as my division freshly mounted on a bit of drift wood. I hope someone can identify this.

The only thing that comes to mind is a Tridactyle sp.

Not sure.

If it blooms, try getting a photo of it as best you can. Should they be Tridactyle, the flowers are small and may be difficult to capture on a normal camera.

The closest Tridactyle I could think of to that description would be Tri. bicaudata. I dont think it is, but it could be a Tridactyle based on the short infloresence?

Thank you very much both of you for your thoughts. My mum's "away from home" So, I will e mail her with your input & ideas.
She definitely grows it in the 'shade' & I gave her a 10 megapixel camera for Xmas... so hopefully she will be able to take a photo or 2 next time it flowers. I don't dare believe my division will flower ... but when it does I will definitely photograph it.... also as I have my eye on a 21 megapixel camera...when I get paid a bonus in a few months so :crossfing

No problem.

My thoughts...I'd focus on getting a macrolens for photographing tiny flowers instead. There's limited zoom capacity on just the normal settings of the original camera.

The resolution only gets you a crisper picture. Small objects out of the stock lens' range will still appear blurry.

update
 

Good news!
My mum told me hers was spiking so I looked at mine & I have spikes!!!! I will have to find someone with a macro lens to photograph when it blooms..
here are 2 pics of it now

This is cool!

It'd be nice to see it.

I have been 'studying' this I have taken a photo of where each new spike comes from. Iit seems that these send out a new spike next to the older ones. So & I'm glad I left the old dried up ones on .. I hope this will help with the eventual naming of it...

Nenella, I was goofing around and came across this site, it might help identify your plant once it blooms. Orchids from Central Africa - Species
Joann

Many thanks Joann!

Cool! How exciting!

Is it possible that it could be aerangis citrata? The spike looks very similar to the one I have, only my plant isn't nearly as big or old as yours.:)

800x_600_aerangis_citrata - Orchid Board Galleries

Ok, I think after many weeks of having this on my mind I have narrowed down at least the genus.

I give you:

Calyptrochilum!

Wow! good work! I think you may be right the plants looks very very similar...
And says found in Tanzania/kenya which is where my got it 30 yrs ago..
I've searched & I have only found : Calyptrochilum emarginatum & Calyptrochilum chrystianum
- My spikes don't look like the spikes shown for these... still waiting to see the actual flowers & getting a decent photo...
thanks again!

I don't think Calyptrochilum blooms from the same node like that, and the spikes look wrong. If I had to guess, I'd say it's Angraecum obversifolium.

???

I thought you said the flowers were "...yellow and looked like flowers from the Doum Palm (Hyphaene thebaica)"...

The flowers on Calyptrochilum christyanum are off-white, aka dirty white, aka white with a yellow tinge.

Same goes for Calyptrochilum emarginatum.

Calyptrochilum christyanum:

http://www.orchidspecies.com/calysp.htm

Calyptrochilum emarginatum:

http://www.orchidspecies.com/calyptremarginatum.htm

The inflorescences on your plant are already looking too long for Calyptrochilum.

I'm still sticking with the possibility that it's a Tridactyle sp. until further developments are posted.

While I'm not saying that the possibility is specifically Tridactyle bicaudata, this is an example of what a Tridactyle species would look like:

Tridactyle bicaudata:

http://www.sciag.ukzn.ac.za/bcs/imag...0bicaudata.JPG

http://www.vumba-nature.com/Tridacty...ata-01-web.jpg

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...I6LeswO8x4jpDA

I feel that Tridactyle is a much more plausible possibility than Calyptrochilum. Tridactyle spp. while rare in the trade, do appear relatively more frequently than something like Calyptrochilum spp.

Your plant I can definitely say is an Angraecoid.

Merci Philip!
Yes my mum did say they look like doum flowers....
I ahve never seen them as I only go home at xmas so have always missed out on the flowering.
I have posted this link to her to see what she thinks - she's away on safari at the moment.
merci beaucoup for your input, research & links!

update...
 

As an Update : Philip, here's what the buds look like at the moment... they defintely have the 'shape' of a 'vandacious species' resemble my Asco.Miniatum 'buds' which are opening at the moment............. that's the closest I can describe as a hobbeist...& not an expert...........
hope this will help the 'experts' to name this when it does finally flower...
I intend to find someone with the right equipment to photograph the flower once it flowers if I don't manage to get a good shot! It should not be too many weeks away....
thanks for every ones input on this dilemma!

It's Vandaceous, but more specifically, it's Angraecoid.

The spurs are giving that away.

I still think it's a Tridactyle sp. of some sort. It's starting to look a lot like it. In a month, we'll know for certain.

Well, I retract the Calyptrochilum comment, that is definitely not what their spikes look like.

update...
 

It looks like it's growing faster than thought... The first blooms started opening today.. apologies photos arn't super as I was at work so just caught the last of the sunshine & on top of it have missplaced the camera 'mount' on my tripod...... just my luck ...anyway here goes... the colour @the moment is a green on the white side..will update photos as develops.

well, I think we can rule out everything that has been guessed so far. maybe Diaphananthe or Rhipidoglossum?

Rhipidoglossum densiflorum?

Hi thanks!
I looked up 'Rhipidoglossum'; some look like the flowers... but not the leaves... & others it's the opposite; leaves look the same, but not the flower... and others pictured don't look like it .. we will just have to wait & see.......
where I saw them : http://www.orchid-africa.net/espece_detail.asp?espPK=13899

By the way I think that it's definitely not a R.densiflorum as neither leaves on plant or flowers are like it .
The leaves on mine are very similar to : Rhipidoglossum ochyrae :
http://http://www.orchid-africa.net/espece_detail.asp?espPK=13904
the flower shape is very similar but for now to me it's more greeny/white than on the yellow colour.. maybe my eyes as my mum said 'yellow' ..? will see in a few days when flowers open out a bit more. (I tried taking a couple photos tonight but they didn't work. I'll keep on trying to get descent ones..)

Nenella, your links don't work.

links fixed in the qoute. in the future, make sure you're not doubling the "http://"
I think your plant is probably Rhipidoglossum rutilum

Thanks for the link Kip
& I know to watch out for the double http's! :blushing: Merci for this too! Anyway
I've had another look.. at the photo of Rhipidoglossum rutilum & it looks extremely close at first glance ...but looking closer, the shape of the lip doesn't quite look the same shape??.. maybe mine still needs to 'mature'? Also the plant leaves really look different to my eyes...??? the photo in the link leaves look, thinner & not same as mine & other pics..?I'm rnot convinced yet....
Ok, I have taken more photos tonight with the last of the sun shining in through the window (W) here they are:

and a couple more shots...

Ps : colour of flower still looks white/green to the naked eye although turns out more yellow on photos ...??
I really don't know & have not got the knowledge.. what do you think now?
THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I'm a bit Lost for now.......

HI all, my mum's not sure about posting.... so she's sent me a couple photos of 'mummy' plant tomorrow she's taking one of the spikes to a prof. photographer to get a decent close up of the flowers....
heres what she sent It's amazing I'd have never thought it would be like this! Enjoy!

Jambo all! My daughter Nenella has kindly put my photos on this thread, I am a novice both at posting (which is why, last time I did was because I was shown) and photography.
The photo doesnt do it justice the real is really lovely, like a fountain of flowers.

They're beautiful! Do they have a scent?

Yes! I am happy to say that they do, at night.. It's a sweet smell (but you have to get your nose right up to it- well that's just now 11.30pm) so, I'll be sniffing more & more. All my flowers are not as open as my mums specimen

My mum is not home again.. so will also ask her to go sniff hers too

Hi Kip,
I wrote to Vincent that created the site you gave me a link to. He was extremely kind and answered me straight away.
He says there is a 70/80% chance it is a Rhipidoglossum rutilum. But, as we all know you can't judge from pictures and as they are a species which is widespread in Africa and whom the coloration of flowers & leaves can be very variable.
Plus he's not an expert on E.African orchids but Central african ones..
Has anyone got any other links where I may be able to get extra info? thanks in advance.

Habari nenella ?
I know this is an old thread - I came across it doing a search for African orchids. I grew up in Kenya too and I'm trying to collect orchids from East Africa.
Have you managed to identify your orchid yet? If not there is a lady who may be able to help you. Isobyl la Croix is her name and she spent many years in Eastern Africa researching and studying its orchids. She wrote a book on Kenya's orchids so if anyone will know what it is, she will.
If you do a google search on her name, you should be able to find her email address. (under Uzumara Orchids - its an old out of date list as she doesn,t sell anymore)
She is lovely and terribly helpful!:)

Mzuri sana Asp especially with you resurrecting this thread.
Thanks! I will definitely try Isobyl. I just had a look at the pics of what it looked like in jan 2010 and now; am happy to report that it has really taken off especially since i put it in a terrarium where it gets 80% min humidity & still soaked for 1/2 hr once or twice a week, when I remember.. Hopefully will reflower this year. Flowered last year but only one spike.
Thanks again for the 'tip'