Endangered Orchid
 

Here is an iteresting link that I found about a special orchid. The christmas orchid. Now its special to me because I just remembered that Colombia's(the country in which I was born) national flower is this orchid.
The flower is Cattleya trianae, and is commonly known as the christmas orchid. Apparently it is only found in the Colombian Andes, and is currently endangered. :( It was described in 1860 but I can't find by whom. Also it is known as La Flor de Mayo, or may flower in Colombia.

http://www.un.org/depts/UNPA/additio...endspe/ny3.htm

Perhaps we can have a section on this board called Orchid education where people can post interesting things about orchids, or any usefull knowledge about all the different types of orchids.

Here is a print of that nice orchid I am posting about.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...rianae-528.jpg

Also, here is a replica which a family friend made by hand. This was made of some sort of hardened paste. It looks soo real. Its got spahgnum moss on the back and everything.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ae-replica.jpg
Sorry for the bad pic quality, but that is a pic taken by my camera phone.


Hope you all enjoyed this post.

What a great flower to have as a national flower!

It looks like the hand made flower is made out of Gum Paste. Creating flowers like this is a skill that is taught to our Culinary and Baking students. It is mostly made of icing (confectioners) sugar and a few other specialized ingredients.

Yes, you are correct. I just couldnt remember on my own. The woman who made it also cooked as a profession.

Cattleya trianaei
 

Linden sent the plant to Reichenbach, who described it in 1860. It is named in honour of Dr Triana, a botanist in Bogota.
Weng

Flor de Mayo
 

In Mexico we call frangipani, or plumeria, Flor de Mayo, since it flowers almost exclusively in that month. It's aztec name is actually cacaloxochitl (crow flower).

If you look up flor de mayo in google images you see both plants.

[QUOTE=Tindomul;604]Here is an iteresting link that I found about a special orchid. The christmas orchid. Now its special to me because I just remembered that Colombia's(the country in which I was born) national flower is this orchid.
The flower is Cattleya trianae, and is commonly known as the christmas orchid. Apparently it is only found in the Colombian Andes, and is currently endangered. :( It was described in 1860 but I can't find by whom. Also it is known as La Flor de Mayo, or may flower in Colombia.

Now I am confused!:scratchhead: Why would they call a flower that flowers in May the Christmas flower? I purchased 2 plants of Cattleya trianae in 1969 from Mrs de Ospina in Colombia and they are both different and flower at different times. The one has just finished flowering (about a month ago) so it is autumn flowering which would correspond to a plant flowering in October in the northern hemisphere. Where can one find photos to illustrate the various forms of Cattleya trianae?
Keep well and kind regards
Mike

Flor de Mayo
 

that's teh funny and confusing thing with local names. You must be carefull when using them outside the corresponding country, as they may mean something completelly different for other people.

In Venezuela, the Flor de Mayo is C. mosiae, the national flower of this country...

Common names are usually completely and utterly meaningless.

[quote=Mike O'C;110240]

An orchidist in Zambia showed me an Epidendrum radicans and said it is known locally as the Kenya Orchid! :rofl:

This is an attempt to post a photo from my gallery of one of the palnts that I purchased from Mrs de Ospina in colombia in 1969. The two plants flower at different times and look different. Is this plant correctly labelled as Cattleya trianae? Anybody know?
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ya_trianae.jpg