The seller may have been from "Japan", (since I wasn't with your friend, I wouldn't know if that seller was truly from Japan), but I'm not aware of this orchid occurring naturally in Japan, (I've not even heard of Chiloschista naturally coming out of the southernmost main island of Japan - Kyushu). I actually cannot think of any international sellers coming from Japan who sell Chiloschista when they make their orchid show rounds. Many of the Japanese sellers are selling stuff like Cymbidiums,
Sedirea japonica, or
Neofinetia falcata of various kinds. I do know Ben from Ooi Leng Sun from Malaysia who does make the orchid show rounds who does bring Chiloschista into the shows on a regular basis, (he happens to be in the Redlands Orchid Show going on right now in Homestead, FL). There are also a few international sellers from Taiwan attending the Redland Orchid Show as vendors, they could've brought some Chiloschista with them. Louisiana Orchid Connection also may have brought them to the Redlands Show as well. If there are Chiloschista species that naturally occur in Japan, they would most likely be found in the island of Kyushu, (where the climate is more subtropical to tropical). I do know the genus Chiloschista naturally occur in Southeast Asia in areas like the southernmost parts of tropical or subtropical China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, or Indonesia. I'm not sure if some species of Chiloschista occur in Taiwan either, so I'll reserve this for when it is confirmed that they actually do.
Your particular orchid is considered to be a "leafless" orchid called
Chiloschista lunifera. While this is not the most difficult "leafless" orchid to grow, it is also not one of the most straightforward orchids to grow.
It primarily photosynthesizes using its roots. It
needs to be grown mounted
without moss covering the roots. I also do not recommend growing this orchid with moss put underneath the roots either. I have seen photos of them growing in the wild, and much of the time they are found growing on twigs or small branches of trees that do not have any moss or very little moss growing on them. The twigs or branches where they come from do grow algae from time-to-time, but not much moss.
The following are photos of Chiloschista in the wild, (pay attention to pic 2 and 3 on the first/top row):
In situ | It's all about Vandas
You can mount on tree fern fiber mounts or on cork bark.
The reason I quoted "leafless" is because they
actually do produce leaves. It is not 100% factual that they do not produce leaves. Those leaves are rather small and rudimentary, and they are not plentiful, (they can grow 1 - 2 leaves usually), but they are still capable of photosynthesis. They are also capable of becoming deciduous.
The roots, flowering inflorescence, and the leaves are not growing out of a true stem, they are growing out of meristematic tissue that is in the center of where the roots start radiating out of.
Chiloschista are also seasonal growers. They experience seasonal rains. There is a wet and a "dry" season. The "dry" season is not truly dry, rather the rains do not occur quite as often as if it was actually rainy season.
This group of orchids thrive in high humidity environments, (75% - 90% relative humidity).
They don't like to be watered too frequently. Watering once a day or once every two days during the rainy season is fine. During the drier season, reduce frequency of watering to once every 3 - 4 days.
They grow in bright shade to the low end of moderately bright indirect light.
These grow intermediate to warm, (18.3 C - 35 F/65 F - 95 F).
They are seasonal bloomers.
They are distantly related to Phals.
Your plant is (obviously) blooming sized. It is a miniature orchid.
They keiki quite often. It is pretty cool how they do it.
Got any questions, go ahead and ask. I've grown these before, if you're wondering how I know. Some of what I told you will not be found easily on the internet.
Help/Care for tiny orchid, no idea what it is..
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