Learn About Rare and Beautiful Ghost Orchids

Dendrophylax lindenii

There are a couple of crops on the planet that seize the creativeness, encourage intense followings, characteristic prominently in artwork, and have books written about them.

Ghost orchids are a few of these forms of crops.

The ghost orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) was the main target of Susan Orlean’s best-selling guide “The Orchid Thief” and the film adaptation that starred Meryl Streep.

Fanatics obsessively watch and monitor these crops with distant cameras, eagerly anticipating their bloom cycles.

These are crops that encourage, shock, and delight anybody who will get to know them.

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I’m not going to lie, this isn’t a plant for the newbie and even intermediate grower.

Making an attempt to domesticate ghost orchids is certainly a sophisticated undertaking and even skilled orchidists wrestle.

On this information we’ll talk about some rising ideas, however we’ll focus totally on studying extra about these distinctive crops and the place you may see these endangered species of their pure habitat.

Right here’s the lineup:

What Are Ghost Orchids?

Dendrophylax lindenii (previously labeled as ​​Aeranthes lindenii, Polyradicion lindenii, and Polyrrhiza lindenii), the notorious ghost orchids, are extraordinarily uncommon crops.

As with many different orchids, they’re epiphytes, which implies they develop connected to different crops, normally timber.

They aren’t parasites they usually don’t draw vitamins from the plant they dwell on, they simply use it as a assist base.

A part of the Epidendroideae subfamily of orchids, D. lindenii have skinny, slender stems, and their leaves hardly appear to exist in any respect. What’s left is a lovely white orchid flower that appears to drift across the trunks of timber in tropical climates.

The flower is very aromatic, with a fruity, apple-like scent. Every bloom has an higher dorsal sepal, two facet petals, two decrease sepals, and a labellum on the base.

It’s the labellum that makes these crops so distinctive. They’re comprised of two lengthy tendrils that twist and twirl. Generally, they appear to be the legs of a leaping frog.

The flowers are pretty petite, at as much as one and a half inches large and three and a half inches lengthy.

That comes as a shock to individuals after they see this plant for the primary time, since in photographs they have an inclination to look a bit greater than they really are.

The plant technically has leaves, however they’re small, scale-like growths which might be hardly even noticeable except you get proper up shut.

When not in bloom, the plant appears to be like like a mass of greenish-brown-gray roots clinging to the tree. These chlorophyllous roots really photosynthesize within the absence of the leaves.

The roots have white streaks generally known as pneumatodes, which alternate oxygen and carbon in the same method to the leaves on most crops.

Every root is encased in a velamen, which absorbs vitamins and water for the orchid.

D. lindenii begins blooming within the late spring and flowers final via mid-summer, although they will bloom outdoors of this era after they’re in the appropriate temper.

Every raceme has as much as ten flowers, with just one open at a time and lasting for as much as two weeks.

The plant can have quite a few racemes, so every plant can have a bunch of ghosts floating round at a time.

Don’t confuse D. lindenii with the British ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum).

The latter is a terrestrial orchid that was considered extinct in Britain however a specimen was lately found rising within the wild in 2024.

Cultivation and Historical past

Ghost orchids had been first found in Cuba by a Belgian plant collector named Jules Linden in 1844. They’re additionally native to southern Florida and different elements of the Caribbean.

In Florida, they’re normally discovered on pond apples (Annona glabra), bald cypress, Florida buttonwood, varied palms, and pop ash timber (Fraxinus carolinianas).

Not like hen’s-nest orchids which you’ll be able to’t develop at dwelling, it’s technically attainable to domesticate D. lindenii, nevertheless it’s very arduous. Even specialists wrestle to maintain them alive.

That’s partially as a result of these crops develop in a symbiotic relationship with species of helpful fungi within the Thelophoraceae household.

Additionally they depend on native pollinators just like the fig sphinx moth (Pachylia ficus), large sphinx moth (Cocytius antaeus), gaudy sphinx (Eumorpha labruscae), streaked sphinx (Protambulyx shigilis), and different hawkmoths.

So it’s not generally seen in cultivation.

Sadly, D. lindenii is endangered in its native vary. In Florida, there are most likely solely about 1,500 specimens left, with about 500 in Cuba.

Of these remaining within the wild, lower than half appear to have the ability to reproduce, indicating that the situations aren’t proper for copy.

Followers monitor the blooming of the “tremendous” ghost orchid in Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.

It was first noticed in 2007 and since then it has carried out yr after yr with as much as 40 blossoms per season. It even places out flowers all yr lengthy, to the delight of followers.

Orchid lovers celebrated when a specimen being cultivated on the Kew Botanical Gardens lastly bloomed in 2023.

Whereas it’s unlawful to take them from the wild, there’s not a lot level in doing so anyway, as a result of the crops hardly ever survive. Nonetheless, their numbers are nonetheless being decimated by poachers persevering with to steal them.

That’s to not say that there aren’t sellers on the market with specimens that had been legally propagated, so make sure to do your analysis prior to creating any buy.

As talked about it’s not straightforward to domesticate ghost orchids as they require very particular situations to thrive, however I’ll present an outline of easy methods to develop these crops in case you are eager for a problem.

The place to Purchase

Be completely positive that you simply’re shopping for a plant from a good vendor who isn’t promoting poached specimens.

There are many specialists propagating by way of tissue tradition on the market, so it’s completely attainable to purchase a younger plant from an orchid specialist.

Keep away from buying seeds. They’re most likely not the actual factor and rising orchids from seed is hard to start with, not to mention making an attempt to develop one thing like D. lindenii.

To get your arms on a plant, try orchid specialists or attain out to your native orchid society.

They’ll level you in the appropriate route and can most likely know the respected sellers in your area, if there are any.

How you can Develop Ghost Orchids

Rising a ghost orchid isn’t an endeavor for the start or perhaps a reasonably skilled orchid grower.

Ideally, you’ll have expertise cultivating mounted orchids, as a result of these completely gained’t survive in a bark combination in a pot.

And it’s vital to notice that crops can take as much as 15 years to mature and flower, even within the wild, so this isn’t a undertaking that gives on the spot gratification.

I’ll add that I by no means need to discourage a gardener from making an attempt to develop something. Everybody has their strengths and weaknesses on the subject of rising crops.

If you’re keen to strive one thing and settle for that you simply would possibly fail a couple of occasions earlier than you get it proper, I say go for it!

I can’t develop a Boston fern to avoid wasting my life, whereas all my pals inform me it’s their best houseplant.

However I could make a maidenhair fern flourish, whereas many gardeners say it’s their most difficult houseplant.

It’s not that I’m magically gifted, I simply occur to have the appropriate situations and the appropriately heavy watering hand for maidenhairs. However clearly, I lack the flexibility to make a Boston fern glad.

When you have by no means stored a moth orchid (Phalaenopsis spp.) for greater than a yr, that doesn’t imply you gained’t have the appropriate mixture to develop ghost orchids. Strive it out!

You want a spot with temperatures of about 65°F at night time and 85°F through the day. Absolutely the minimal acceptable nighttime temperature is 60°F and the minimal through the day is 75°F.

If temperatures climb to 90°F or increased, it’s time to open the home windows, vent the greenhouse, activate the AC, or no matter else you are able to do to alleviate the warmth.

All year long, ghost orchids want excessive humidity to thrive. Take into consideration the situations of a boggy or swampy space in southern Florida. It’s muggy. Your rising space ought to be, too.

When you don’t have this naturally, you’ll must recreate it. A small mist humidifier gained’t work.

You want one thing giant sufficient to humidify your total rising area and to maintain that humidity fixed with out dips and surges.

The area ought to be stored constantly between 65 to 85 p.c humidity, however if you happen to can program your humidifier, let it drop to the decrease finish through the day and as much as the upper finish at night time.

This occurs naturally in nature, as a result of because the temperatures rise the humidity usually drops.

Bonus factors if you happen to use an ultrasonic humidifier that produces fantastic water particles reasonably than giant ones.

You’ll want to make use of a fan within the area to assist flow into the air and stop fungal points.

By now, you’re most likely considering that this isn’t a plant that’s preferrred for the typical family situations, and also you’re proper.

Most orchid specialists develop D. lindenii in a greenhouse in order that they will create the particular situations the crops require.

Most of us don’t have the appropriate situations in our properties and to achieve success might want to assemble a particular rising space.

Your plant will have to be mounted on hickory or different furrowed bark wooden. You need to discover a piece of wooden that has a lot of channels and crevices, that’s a part of the key to conserving ghost orchids glad.

The channels within the wooden assist defend the roots and provides them area to remain humid and funky. When you use a flat piece of wooden, the roots could be extra uncovered.

You don’t want to make use of a big piece. Something about twice the dimensions of the plant you’re beginning with is ok, however there’s nothing flawed with going greater.

When you do every thing proper, your plant will develop enormous, with roots crawling as much as two toes in each instructions, so that you don’t need to be consistently reattaching them.

When you might have chosen the wooden, use cyanoacrylate adhesive like Gorilla or Krazy glue to very rigorously affix the roots to the wooden. Solely glue the elements of the roots that contact the wooden, don’t cowl the highest of sides.

It is best to glue the roots into the channels of the bark to recreate the situations the plant would naturally develop in. You’re mainly doing the attachment work that the specimen would do by itself over the course of a number of years.

Lastly within the mounting course of, you need to stick Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) on prime of the roots.

Tuck the Spanish moss over and in between roots, in the event that they’re accessible. You may glue this, too, or safe it utilizing twine or one thing related.

It’s vital to buy or discover dwell Spanish moss, not ornamental lifeless moss.

My guess is that dwell moss helps as a result of it incorporates helpful goodies that assist the orchid survive, however there’s no particular analysis to inform us precisely why it helps.

Within the wild, D. lindenii develop with their roots tucked into the moss on the tree, in order that they clearly have a symbiotic relationship, and scientists are presently learning the connection.

The dwell moss can even let you know if the situations are proper to your plant. It may be a guessing recreation to find out if you happen to’re giving a specimen with no leaves and solely uncommon flowers the situations it must thrive.

For the reason that moss likes the same surroundings as ghost orchids, if it appears to be doing properly, your orchid will hopefully thrive, too.

When you’ve mounted your plant, it ought to be stored in brilliant, oblique mild or dappled daylight and the humid situations described above.

In a greenhouse, cowl the rising space with 35 to 50 p.c shade fabric. The day size ought to be about 12 to 14 hours, so that you would possibly want supplemental lighting through the shorter winter months.

Preserve the roots moist throughout nearly all of the yr. The roots of mature crops have to be allowed to dry out a bit simply earlier than flowering.

You’ll need to water them as soon as per week or much less throughout December, January, and February so the moss simply begins to dry out. As soon as the flower stems begin to develop, you may return to watering usually.

Because the roots develop and unfold, you’ll must maintain including dwell Spanish moss to cowl them.

With all these situations in place and when the crops are mature sufficient, it’s best to see flowers within the spring.

Observing Ghost Orchids within the Wild

If you wish to discover D. lindenii within the wild, it’s attainable, however keep in mind to take solely photographs, and go away the wild specimens alone.

Actually, you may not even need to inform anybody the place you noticed them, to keep away from tipping off poachers.

Proper now, conservationists are petitioning to make the ghost orchid protected beneath the Endangered Species Act within the US.

D. lindenii is already protected beneath native state legal guidelines, so don’t try to gather any a part of the plant as that is strictly prohibited. Two individuals had been caught and prosecuted in 2022.

D. lindenii is already beneath sufficient risk from habitat loss and local weather change, they want all of the assist they will get.

With so many tissue-cultured propagules on the market, the wild specimens aren’t even price that a lot cash any extra.

I’m passionate in regards to the safety of endangered species, so please do your finest to make sure that their surroundings is left alone as a lot as attainable.

In Florida, these crops are identified to develop in Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, the Huge Cypress Nationwide Protect, Fakahatchee Strand Protect State Park, and the Florida Panther Nationwide Wildlife Refuge.

They may also be present in different conservation areas in southern Florida and in some tribal areas in Collier and Hendry counties.

There are rumors that they are often present in Lee county, however D. lindenii hasn’t been undoubtedly documented within the space. When you discover some, make sure to let the South Florida Orchid Society know!

Put on your hip waders since you’ll be slogging via the muck, and use a GPS locator and be sure you inform your loved ones or pals the place you can be exploring.

Familiarize your self with the hazards within the space, convey a lot of water, and your digital camera!

When you discover a cluster of roots that you simply suspect might be a ghost orchid, nevertheless it lacks blossoms, take a look at the roots a bit extra intently.

The silver or white traces alongside the roots ought to tip you off that that is probably a ghost. Different epiphytic species within the space don’t have the silver line.