Ever Mounted An Orchid on a Skull?
 

Curious if these epiphytes will attach to bones? Anyone tried? Could be *awesome* :evil:

Don't know, but sounds pretty cool! Uh . . . do you ask because you have a stray skull?? Wow!

Well I don't have any HUMAN skulls lying around, but big livestock skulls aren't too hard to come by.

I actually found an online orchid shop last night that sells resin skulls specifically for mounting orchids! Just google 'mount orchid on a skull' and you will find it.

I take the opposite view, leaning toward looking more natural, which is why I prefer cork oak bark for mounting.


Ray Barkalow
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Read the story of the about the rediscovery of Dendrobium schröderianum in The Woodlands Orchids by Frederick Boyle. You'll find that orchids do in fact grow very well on bone.

Thanks for that link, what a fascinating read!

My dad was a physician and had a real human skull in his study and looked at it before he did surgeries on the face. I don't know what happened to it after he died. I think you can order them from scientific supply companies like Carolina Biological, but to get a genuine human skeleton you may need to have some credentials. They make simulated ones out of ground animal bones I think though.

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The strangest skull I ever saw was in a Catholic church in Spain though. It had a candle right on its cap and a little message at the bottom that said "One day I looked like you and someday you'll look like me."

I have a friend who has 2 cow skulls she has mounted with orchids. I think she stuffed some moss into the brain cavity and has them planted with a common orange epidendrum and the "dove" orchid (Dendrobium crenutatum?). There is also button orchid (Dischidia nummularia?) growing/hanging off them. She had a phalaenopsis growing out one of the eye sockets for a while but it didn't get enough attention and threw in the towel. The rest are currently thriving on neglect :)

Thank you lambelkip! Fascinating read. I hope to make time to read the rest of the book!

Catherine

Dischidia is not a genus of orchids.