Phalaenopsis honghenensis

[Tindomul]

So I have had this species since 2007 at least. I have it in one of my terrariums. It came with leaves, but it lost them years ago and never regrew them. It has flowered for me multiple times since it lost it's leaves. I guess it gets enough light without the leaves.

Phalaenopsis honghenensis


Sorry about the out of focus parts, this was a quickie photo.

[Bud]

Lovely blooms, Cesar....but it is strange for a Phalaenopsis to thrive with no leaves.

[fishmom]

Wow--that's root power all right!

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Bud

Lovely blooms, Cesar....but it is strange for a Phalaenopsis to thrive with no leaves.

There are actually quite a few Phalaenopsis species for which leaves seem to be unimportant - I suspect most are higher-elevation ones. If anybody doubted the importance of photosynthesis by green roots, here is the evidence!

[Tindomul]

I've had deciduous Phals before, but they all maintain their leaves in my conditions. Not sure what it is about my conditions that cause it to be leaf-less.

[u bada]

love this. It's interesting, you've had it long but hasn't gotten significantly bigger?

I've killed quite a few of the deciduous to semi-deciduous types, both growing outdoors here and indoors in tanks. Nonetheless just picked up yet another one- lowii, grow that one? Ive improved my culture all around so hoping for the best with this one, although keeping it outside.

I've had the same issues I think with dens, if grown outside and let dry and cool/cold winters they for some reason can't decide to bother to come out of dormancy. Even have it happen to species inside too. Other genera too. chiloschistas for instance. They just stop growing and years go by and they're still in limbo, and at some point die. oy. (I'll of course experiment with regular waterings for weeks if not months to induce them to grow...)

anyway, bravo, I've read about others who experience their phal species like this that never grow leaves or never receive cool dry winters, where they grow and flower just fine. Good clone maybe.

[Tindomul]

Could be the clone. I'll tell you that mine gets watered everyday by automatic sprinkler attached to the terrarium. The roots seem to keep growing and replacing the old dead ones when they do die, not often. This is a small species by nature I think, so I don't think it should get much larger.

[bethmarie]

I love it!