Much of this is over my head, so I'm probably not appreciating the gist of the study. Just finished reading/skimming the paper. I wish that there had been some, or any, discussion of the rather significant difference in climate between Tahiti and New Zealand.
Here in the Los Angeles area my friend and I often share plants with each other. She lives closer to the coast than I do so her conditions are more intermediate than mine. For a while now I've been wanting to try conducting a simple experiment to quantify the variation in temperature preference in a batch of seeds. We'd sow the seeds from a single pod of say Begonia fischeri (the only "weedy" Begonia here) and then split the pots. When the seedlings were a few inches tall we'd share half of the largest ones with each other. So we'd each have two batches of seedlings. Then we would compare the disparity in blooming time. The greater the disparity, the greater the variation in temperature preference, the more adaptable the species.
If you took a dozen Silvereyes from Tahiti, a dozen from New Zealand, and introduced them to two different islands in say Hawaii, we can reasonably guess that the Tahiti ones would colonize their island faster. How much faster though? The disparity would quantify the adaptability of this species. The disparity would be even greater if it was 100 rather than 12 birds initially introduced. What about if a third island was colonized with a 100 crosses between the two populations? They'd fall somewhere in the middle? Or perhaps they would win as a result of greater variation in other factors such as body/brain/beak/wing size?
Right now there's discussion, or maybe even efforts, to eradicate hybrids between native iguanas and invasive ones. The goal is ostensibly to prevent the loss of diversity. But I think the scientists are somehow missing that the very point of diversity is adaptability. It's entirely possible that the hybrids will be better than the parents at adapting to rapid climate change. Perhaps our own very existence is due to greater climate adaptability conferred by our ancestors mixing with more cold tolerant neanderthals.
In 2011 I sowed a bunch of different orchid seeds on my Cedar tree and much to my very pleasant surprise some of them actually germinated...
All the seedlings turned out to be Laelia anceps. Over the years I've documented the growth of the largest seedling...
December 2012
June 2013
Dec 2013
Aug 2014
Nov 2014
April 2016
June 2018
There's a really big disparity between the seedlings in terms of size. Here's one of the smallest seedlings...
What explains the remarkable size disparity? Is it because of the difference in the seeds and/or the difference in the microhabitats and/or the difference in the helper fungus?
The largest seedling germinated right next to the roots of a slow growing variety of Dendrobium teretifolium. Evidently the Dendrobium harbored a fungus in its roots that the Laelia seed was able to put to good use. Is this fungus from Australia like the Dendrobium, or from Mexico like the Laelia, or is it pantropical? In any case, given that the Laelia is in the process of outgrowing and overgrowing the Dendrobium, clearly it isn't always advantageous for an orchid to harbor fungus that can help germinate the seeds of unrelated orchids. I wonder whether the seeds of this Dendrobium would be able to germinate near the roots of this Laelia.
Right now the largest seedling has five new pseudobulbs starting to grow. In many, if not most, years its pseudobulbs mature around August and new ones would start to grow. They would mature late winter or early spring. Part of the reason for this is because this individual hasn't yet allocated any energy to blooming! It is definitely not precocious. The trade-off between growing and blooming is quite interesting.
Last year I removed two keikis from my very wonderful Dendrobium Gloucester Sands (discolor x canaliculatum) and attached them to boards...
The smaller keiki decided to put out roots and a new pseudobulb while the larger keiki decided to bloom. Blooming is very costly in terms of energy so, for a plant this size, I'd normally nip the spike in the bud, so to speak. In this case I decided to leave it for illustrative purposes. Some animal decided to mostly override my decision by eating all of the buds except for one.
The "pockets" made of shade cloth are filled with slow-release fertilizer granules. This effectively fertilizes all the mounted plants beneath it, but I really shouldn't have attached the pockets to the boards. Bundling the pockets and the boards discourages me from moving the boards. Instead, I should have made completely "independent" pockets. Another thing, seedlings and small newly mounted divisions don't respond well to lots of fertilizer.
Getting back to the Den Gloucester Sands, here are its roots growing on my Pachypodium lamerei...
Here's a video of it...
Diversity is the best. Last September I excitedly purchased a flask of Bc Beulah Bradeen (Cattleya walkeriana x Brassavola nodosa) from eBay. Both parents have done quite well for me so I was very curious to see whether their offspring might do even better. As per my standard operating procedure, I carefully mounted the largest seedlings on sections of trellis wood...
I distributed all the mounts throughout the garden. So far only around five seedlings survived the winter. And it was a pretty reasonable winter... it didn't even freeze.
Why did so many seedlings die? Was it primarily from a lack of heat? Or was it primarily from a lack of water? During winter, for most of my plants I drastically cut back on watering. In any case, given that a few seedlings survived, there's certainly variation in terms of the seedlings and/or the microhabitats.
One issue with flasks is that there's usually no selection in terms of drought tolerance. Last fall I had a relevant e-mail discussion with an orchid hybridizer in Australia who specializes in tea tree orchids. He had recently registered Dendrobium Ultraviolet, which is a cross between a less succulent orchid, Den Berry, and a more succulent orchid, Den canaliculatum. Even though the cross is 62.5% canaliculatum, it looks more like kingianum.
My theory is that, in a flask with adequate moisture, storing water is a disadvantage. Seedlings that are more succulent are going to lose the competition for limited space to the seedlings that are less succulent. So when a more succulent orchid is crossed with a less succulent orchid, if the seeds are flasked, then the seedlings will be less succulent.
I think the same concept must be true for temperature. If a cooler growing orchid (ie Den Berry) is crossed with a warmer growing orchid (ie Den canaliculatum), and the flasked seeds are kept cooler, then the seedlings will predominantly be cooler growers. I doubt that any professional flasking laboratories expose their flasks to temps as high as the temps that Den canaliculatum experiences in its native habitat. Basically, the deck is stacked against Den canaliculatum's warmer growing and drought tolerating traits.
Orchids populations, like all populations, conform/adapt to their conditions/environment. Here's the most relevant passage that I've found on the general topic...
An ovule is successfully fertilized by only one pollen grain out of (potentially) many thousands. If fertilization is performed at a sufficiently low temperature, the growth of chilling-resistant genotypes of pollen will be favored over others. These will reach the ovule first so that their genes will appear in the resulting seed. At no other stage of development can selection be made on such large numbers of genotypes. - Brad D. Patterson and Michael S. Reid, Genetic and Environmental Inlfuences on the Expression of Chilling Injury
What's very interesting to consider is what happens when an orchid is pollinated during the spring or fall here in Southern California. A few days ago the high temps were in the low 90s. Now the highs are in the low 70s. That's a pretty big range of high temps. Imagine how much impact this fluctuation would have on the race for the ovule. In theory the most hercuthermal genotypes should win the race.
Laelia anceps generally blooms from fall to spring... depending on the plant and its conditions. Honestly I don't even remember pollinating my Laelia anceps. For all I know the seeds that germinated on my tree were from a Laelia anceps owned by unknown neighbors. But in terms of adapting to SoCal's climate, it is advantageous for Laelia anceps to bloom when it does. Unfortunately, its blooming also coincides with my break from my plants. I think that, after the seeds germinated on my tree, I only once tried to pollinate my anceps, but no pods developed. Evidently the pollen that I used (ie Brassavola) was too different.
There have been a few other times when I sowed other orchid seeds on my tree. Only one of these other sowings was somewhat successful...
I noticed this NOID seedling in 2016. It germinated right next to the roots of a Vanda tricolor. I looked around and managed to spot a few other similar seedlings in the vicinity. It is definitely a sympodial orchid and its pseudobulbs and the undersides of its leaves are burgundy. When Camille1585 asked for an update on the Laelia anceps seedlings, I climbed the tree and noticed that one of these NOID seedlings was about to fall off because somebody, probably a squirrel, had dislodged the piece of bark that it was attached to. I carefully removed the seedling and attached it to a board...
If you zoom in you can see a bunch of reed-stem Epidendrum seeds germinating near the NOID seedling. My hope is that the helper fungus in the roots of the NOID seedling will inoculate the reed seeds. It's my best guess that, unlike other orchid seeds, reed seeds already have enough nutrients to germinate on their own. Even if this is the case I still want to help to spread the fungus that helped the NOID seedling germinate.
The board is sitting on my coffee table without any sort of covering and its right under a bendy octopus type lamp that stays on during the day. Right now the reed seeds are completely dry. Hopefully this is giving an advantage to the marginally more drought tolerant individuals.
Next to the NOID seedling's mount is another mossy mount that has a reed seedling on it...
Also on the board are some Echeveria gibbiflora seedlings and a Schlumbergera microsphaerica that I received last fall. The Schlumbergera grew quite well over the winter. I'm really happy with how well it has done even though the house was coldish during the winter. If anybody is interested, this species is currently for sale on eBay. The vendor also has some other interesting plants for sale.
Getting back to orchids, one of my very favorites is Dendrobium trilamellatum...
This robust epiphyte thrives in habitats in which few other orchids can survive. It occurs from a little south of Cooktown to the islands of Torres Strait, southern New Guinea and the Top End of the Northern Territory. It is a species of the very seasonal and hot open melaleuca woodlands where the wet season usually starts in December with occasional storms building to heavy rain in January to March, followed by a dry season in which virtually no rain falls from June to November. The Yellow Antelope Orchid flowers in spring (July to November) and the flowers are attractive, long lasting and pleasantly scented. They are about three to four centimetres across. In cultivation this species does moderately well, but must be given a dry season and the medium must be well drained. - Bill Lavarack, Bruce Gray, Australian Tropical Orchids
Last month mine bloomed for the first time. There were only two flowers. I really wasn't quite in my plant "mood" yet, but because I love this orchid so much, I knew that I'd be really disgruntled with myself if I didn't endeavor to put the pollen to good use. So I used the pollen to try and pollinate two closely related Dendrobiums...
Dendrobium canaliculatum x (parnatanum x trilamellatum)
Dendrobium canaliculatum x antennatum
Both these orchids now have a seed pod developing on them, but the first orchid's seed pod is twice as large. When the pods ripen should I sow the seeds on my tree? I'd like to, in order to select for the individuals that are best suited to my conditions, but I'm not confident that any seeds would germinate. Right now I'm leaning towards offering the seeds to the curator of the Huntington's succulent collection.... John Trager. A while back he had an Oncidium cebolleta cross flasked and the seedlings were included as part of the 2012 International Succulent Introductions (ISI). It was really great to see an orchid offered alongside the other succulent plants. Since that year no other orchid has been offered in the ISI so naturally I think it's time for another orchid, or two, to crash the succulent party.
If I was going to summarize all of this entry with one word... I'd go with "Californication". It's a show staring David Duchovny as a writer. Unfortunately the show isn't about plants but the word "Californication" strikes me as really relevant to the incredible and amazing and fascinating process of the millions and millions of non-native plants growing here in California being selected for, and adapting to, California's climate. Any Californian who grows non-native plants outdoors helps to facilitate this process, especially when they grow these plants from seed. In theory, since orchids produce so many seeds, they should adapt the fastest. But then there's the tricky issue that virtually all orchid seeds require fungus or flasking to germinate. Well, this issue is only tricky if we assume, or decide, that Californication is truly desirable.
Anybody else a fan of Blade Runner? The setting is Los Angeles in 2019. There's an abundance of flying cars, but a scarcity of plants. Personally, if we are going to err, then we should err on the side of too many plants. If we're going to give future people something to complain about, then let them complain about an abundance of plants. Let them complain that California has too many different varieties of tree Aloes that host too many different varieties of orchids that nourish too many different varieties of hummingbirds and harbor too many different varieties of lizards.
Maybe the one movie that best depicts how we should err is Annihilation. This passage comes to mind...
A few species of orchids are occasionally able to become established in very odd microhabitats. Withner (personal communication) reports seeing small orchids - probably Comparettia Poep. And Endl. - growing on mango leaves. Since the leaves last about three years, this suggests that the orchid may complete a life cycle within this relatively short time. Even more bizarre, Bowling (orchid propagator, Kew; personal communication) told me that he had once seen a tiny Microcoelia Lind. Growing on a spider's web in Ghana! I very much doubt, however, that either leaves or webs will ever become very important orchid habitats. - William W. Sanford, The Orchids, Scientific Studies
Personally I have a penchant for pendant plants so I tend to prefer Playceriums that match my pendulous preference... such as certain varieties of Platycerium willinckii. The Staghorn in the above picture is the least pendant Platy that I've ever seen. It definitely caught my attention and I have to admit that I kinda like it.
Hoya revolubilis - The Kunming Kina of Southern China
This is easily one of my top five favorite Hoyas. The leaves are relatively succulent and it's a good epiphytic grower. A while back I attached a piece of this and a piece of the somewhat similar, and far more common, Hoya shepherdii to a board covered in New Zealand Sphagnum moss. Both Hoyas established fairly quickly but revolubilis won the competition by a mile. The shepherdii was on its last leg when I took pity on it and moved the mount to the area that I water most frequently.
The revolubilis in the photo is a very impressive specimen. We all like impressive specimens... but... the Epiphyte Society of Southern California (ESSC) has a rule about specimens. Members of the ESSC are allowed to have specimens as long as they have already shared cuttings with all the other members. Share, then specimen. This rule is beneficial in several different ways. First, it helps the plant. No plant wants to have all its eggs in too few baskets. Plants are all about colonization (location diversification). Second, it helps the grower hedge their bets. We have all lost plants for all sorts of reasons so it's really good to have many backups (plant insurance). Third, it helps us learn about our plants faster. The members of the ESSC all live in somewhat different climates, and have thumbs that are different shades of green, and employ different growing techniques. It is very informative and useful to see how the same plant performs in a wide range of conditions. Lastly, we should regularly introduce each other to awesome plants.
Camellia edithae
It's fuzzy! At first glance I guessed that it was an epiphytic blueberry. But I was wrong. I'm generally not so interested in Camellias, although they might be a good host for some orchids. In the case of this Camellia though I might be happy to have one.
Tillandsia flabellata rubra
Hummingbirds love reddish Tillandsias and so do I!
Tillandsia Hybrid
I want this! Even if it's monocarpic? Well... I hate monocarpic plants. But there might be one or two exceptions to this rule. Due to illegible writing I'm not exactly sure about the name of this Tillandsia. It's a hybrid and its name starts with a B.
Lemmaphyllum microphyllum
This isn't the best picture of this enchanting and endearing little epiphytic fern from Japan. As you can see, it's very happily growing in a terrarium. The fern was put in there by the terrarium genius Don DeLano. He's very knowledgeable about plants and he gives great talks at society meetings. At the show I asked him if he's ever tried growing this fern outside. He said that he had but it got killed when the temps dropped below freezing. Given that it's from Japan I was somewhat surprised. Turns out that he was growing it in a pot. My guess is that, here in Southern California where it rains during the winter, epiphytic plants handle the winter cold better when they are mounted, because of the excellent drainage. In my Cedar Tree Epiphytes blog entry I shared this photo of L. microphyllum growing over two stories high on my tree...
Lemmaphyllum microphyllum
It's mounted on several very healthy handfuls of New Zealand Sphagnum moss. When I mounted it I also included a few other plants such as a cutting of Columnea Elmer Lorenz. The fern has done really well but, unlike Microgramma vacciniifolia, it doesn't seem to be able to "escape" its moss island/prison. Even though L. microphyllum isn't an escape artist it is definitely one of my very favorite ferns. Here's another favorite...
Niphidium crassifolium
This epiphytic fern has very long fronds and does quite well outside here in SoCal. Perhaps through no fault of its own I didn't manage to get it established on my Cedar tree, but I do have it growing on a tree fern and on a Pygmy Date Palm. Microsorum punctatum is another strap-leaved epiphytic fern with somewhat shorter fronds which might be more drought tolerant. I do have it growing on my Cedar tree.
At the show I met ESSC member Gumbii for the first time. He has a Youtube channel about plants. While we, along with Scadoxus, were looking at the entries I mentioned that we really should do a video of them. From my perspective even a quick video would be better than nothing. Perhaps we could just highlight our 10 favorite plants in the show. Or, I joked, we could criticize the 10 worst plants in the show. Scadoxus chimed in that at one bromeliad society meeting some guy very badly criticized a plant that a member had brought in for others to appreciate. When the critic asked whose plant it was, the owner didn't even want to admit that it was their plant. Yikes!
After the show Scadoxus and I drove to Fernando's garden in West Covina. While on the way there I was telling her about how I had learned of some new terms for an idea that I've discussed with her many times before. The idea, and one of its terms, is voting with donations. I explained that this is most commonly associated with using donations to decide who will have to kiss a pig, or get pied in the face, or get dunked into a tank of water. Sometimes zoos use this method to name an animal. That's when Scadoxus said something like, "Oh yeah, San Diego Zoo does that. Around 15 years ago I was there with my niece and we made a donation to help name a panda." I responded, "What in the world? Seriously? We've been talking about this idea for so many years (maybe like two) and you're only now just sharing this information with me?!" "You didn't ask me about it," she replied, "...better late than never." Ugh.
When we got to Fernando's place I started to carefully inspect his very impressive collection. From the corner of my eye I spotted a small flash of color. I looked more closely and saw what appeared to be a Pelargonium flower just randomly floating in mid-air...
Pelargonium tetragonum?
It was a nearly leafless pendulous Pelargonium that was growing epiphytically! What?! Have you heard of such a plant? I sure hadn't. So I asked Fernando about it and he said that he's had it for around a decade. What?! How come he hadn't introduced me to this plant? Ugh.
We've all failed, albeit unequally so, to introduce each other to awesome plants. I personally feel like I've failed to introduce enough people to the epiphytic fern Aglamorpha coronans. Here's my attempt to try and solve this problem...
It's so very neat that Aglamorpha coronans has wrapped itself nearly all the way around Fernando's palm tree! The video really doesn't do this fern justice, but I hope that it's better than nothing.
There's actually another Aglamorpha species that's even more impressive than coronans... Aglaomorpha heraclea. It has really huge fronds. I tried to grow it once but it wasn't a fan of our winter. While talking to Darla Harris, the president of the Texas Gulf Coast Fern Society, I mentioned that it would be really awesome if heraclea was crossed with coronans. When the president of the Tree Fern Society, Dan Yansura, joined the conversation, I brought up a few other crosses that should be attempted...
Davallia canariensis x Davallia fejeensis Nephrolepis pendula x Nephrolepis cordifolia
Not sure how compatible these species are, but ferns are relatively easy to grow from spore. I've personally had good success simply sowing the spore directly on wet floral foam that's in a pot in a zip lock bag. Darla hadn't heard of this method before. Hopefully she'll give it a try.
Fernando had the largest Sinningia that I had ever personally seen...
Please remind me to remind Scadoxus to remind Fernando to harvest the seeds. The same goes for his Begonia thiemei.
Hopefully we should all agree that we need to do the best possible job of introducing each other to awesome plants. Right now I'm thinking that this vital task can be most efficiently and effectively accomplished by using donation voting (DV). Fortunately for us, there are already websites that can facilitate this. For example...
Members of various plant societies and forums could submit photos of their favorite plants and we could use DV to rank/sort/order/prioritize them. Naturally in this case it wouldn't be possible to use our donations to criticize the worst plants. Instead, we'd use our donations to help highlight the very best plants. All the money raised would be spent to help promote the results. We would essentially be pooling our money to introduce the most people to the most awesome plants in the least amount of time.
In an e-mail, u u (flickr, OB) said that creating the perfect epiphytic orchid for SoCal is a "Herculean" goal. What's life without one, or two, or... a dozen... Herculean goals?! But just how Herculean is this goal anyways?
For those of you who haven't been following along at home... the perfect epiphytic orchid for SoCal would be a lot like Aloe Hercules (AH)...
BN is twice as succulent as GP... but GP is twice as hercuthermal as BN. BN only grows half the year here in SoCal while GP grows the entire year. What we want is the best of both worlds! We want an orchid that needs less water to grow the entire year.
So let's imagine that we crossed GP and BN. This would give us a Fatter Golden Peacock (FGP). Here are a few basic assumptions...
1. No two FGPs would be exactly alike
2. The more FGPs there are, the more variation there will be
We've all heard the expression about the apple not falling far from the tree. It's a given that the more apples that fall from the tree... the greater the distances that some of the apples will fall from the tree. This is what I've tried to illustrate in the x y graph.
In our case, we want the apple to fall far from the tree... but in the direction of AH. The more FGPs that are produced... the greater the chances that we'll end up with a fabulous outlier. This is known as the law of truly large numbers.
If there's one thing that orchids are really good at, it's producing a truly large number of seeds...
A single seed pod can contain a million seeds! A million seeds is a truly large number of seeds. I'm pretty sure that this goes a long way in explaining the success (diversity) of the orchid family.
Since orchids are exceptionally good at producing a large number of seeds, all else being equal, we should be able to make a lot more progress in a lot less time with orchids than we could make with coconuts. An average size flask of orchids can contain around 30 seedlings. But the same size flask wouldn't be large enough for even one coconut seedling. Therefore, creating the perfect orchid for SoCal should be a less Herculean goal than creating the perfect coconut for SoCal.
So how many FGP seedlings would we need to grow in order to find the fabulous outlier? A million seedlings? Maybe 300,000 seedlings? If so, that would be 10,000 flasks! That's a lot of flasks! If this is the case then...
Herculean = Expensive
In the x y graph I put AH and BN both as a 10 in terms of succulence. Clearly, in absolute terms, AH is a lot more succulent than BN. But in relative terms... perhaps they are reasonably equivalent. For some evidence that this is roughly correct, check out this photo of a BN growing on a cactus in nature.
If you looked through that gallery of orchids growing on succulents/cactus... you would have noticed that BN isn't the only Cattleya alliance orchid that grows on cactus. There are 100s of species in the Cattleya alliance that grow in seasonally dry forests and many of these orchids are happy to grow on the cactus that share the same habitat.
Here's a partial listing of some of the relatively drought tolerant species in the Cattleya alliance...
They all use different strategies to deal with drought. Barkerias are the only ones that are deciduous. Brassavolas are the only ones with entirely terete leaves... they also have very skinny pseudobulbs. Tetramicras have canaliculate/fleshy leaves, skinny pseudobulbs and multiple leaves on each pseudobulb. The pseudobulbs of the Rhyncholaelias aren't skinny or fat... but their leaves are relatively succulent. Psychilis do not have very fat pseudobulbs either... but neither are their leaves relatively succulent. Instead, their leaves are quite stiff (coriaceous). Myrmecophilas are the only ones with hollow pseudobulbs (for the ants to live in). Most of the others species have fat/succulent pseudobulbs but there's considerable variety in the size/shape of their pseudobulbs and in the quantity/size/shape of their leaves
One type of form that I find particularly appealing is the "teapot" form (short and stout). Encyclia pyriformis is a good example...
A. species in the Cattleya alliance that occur in dry forests
B. crosses that have been made with these species
... what are the chances that BN is truly the most drought tolerant orchid in the Cattleya alliance? Pretty slim! So ideally we'd want to cross GP with both A and B in order to find the combination of traits that is closest to AH on the x y graph.
How long would it take us to test out all these different possible combinations?! And how much money would it cost us to flask all the seeds?! Clearly the answer depends on how many of "us" there are.
Recently a friend in Australia shared a photo of a nice tree in Perth. As nice as the tree is... it has a pretty big problem. It's naked! The tree doesn't even have a single orchid growing on it. Perth doesn't have any native epiphytic orchids. And neither does Los Angeles.
As the saying goes... many hands make light work. What if we collaborated with the OSWA to create the perfect orchid for... Southern California? For Perth? And what if we invited the members of the Cape Town Orchid Society to join us?
Here's how I've illustrated this...
Even though each of these three cities has a Mediterranean climate... there's a considerable amount of variation in precipitation (mm/inches)...
Out of these three cities... the least Herculean goal would be to create the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth. This is because Perth receives a lot more rain than Cape Town... and twice as much rain as Los Angeles.
Participants in Los Angeles and Cape Town would make promising crosses and send the seeds to participants in Perth. The participants in Perth would flask the seeds and allow their climate to select the most suitable individuals. The survivors of this selection process would be crossed with other promising candidates (recombination) and eventually the perfect epiphytic orchid for Perth would be found. Participants in Perth would send seeds of this cross to participants in Cape Town. The same selection/recombination process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Cape Town. The seeds of this orchid would be sent to Los Angeles and the same process would eventually yield the perfect epiphytic orchid for Southern California.
What would we call this system? Trickle down epiphytics (TDE)?
Perth, Cape Town and Los Angeles aren't the only cities with Mediterranean climates. There are quite a few other cities in the same boat. So if we want to get the ball rolling as fast as possible (maximize the rate of progress)... then we should be as inclusive as possible...
Porto gets so much rain!!! *green with envy* With as much rain as Porto gets... is there already some epiphytic orchid species or hybrid that could thrive, or at least survive, there without any supplemental watering? I'm guessing that the answer is yes. And maybe the orchid growers in Porto are already growing this orchid?
Personally, I don't know any orchid growers in Porto. And I'm guessing that I'm the rule rather than the exception. I do know an orchid grower in Rome... but I really can't say that I'm doing a very good job of networking with other orchid growers in Mediterranean climates.
Here's a partial listing of orchid societies located in Mediterranean climates...
The photo was taken by Marcia Breia in Cordoaria Garden which is in Porto, Portugal. The tree is the London plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia). The truck is so big, fat and mossy! It would be perfect for an orchid... or two.
We would certainly linger longer and be more inclined to take a photo of this tree if it had an orchid growing on it. But not only would this specific space be more appealing, it would also be more diverse.
More genetic variety in a species or a population means a higher likelihood that some individuals will adapt to changing conditions. Lower genetic variety results in uniformity of species, and ultimately translates into vulnerability.
As an example, modern agricultural practices typically are monocultures - the practice of planting vast swathes of genetically identical plants. This is an advantage when it comes to growing and harvesting crops, but it can be a problem when a disease or parasite attacks the field, as every plant in the field will be susceptible. Monocultures are also unable to deal well with changing conditions, such as the changing percipitation and temperature regimes associated with climate change. - Sarah L. Burch, Sara E. Harris, Understanding Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Practice
Regarding our natural preference for orchid diversity...
One would think that man could find enough variation in the orchid family, as it occurs in nature, to more than satiate his taste for variety. Yet man's appetite for variety is never appeased. He has produced over two times as many hybrids, in the past 100 years that he has been engaged in orchid breeding, as nature has created species in her eons of evolutionary effort. - Calaway H. Dodson, Robert J. Gillespie, The Botany of Orchids
Regarding our natural preference for collecting/sharing...
The absence of [Dendrobium johannis var. semifuscum] from the mainland of the Northern Territory and its presence on Melville and Bathurst islands leads to the speculation that it might have been introduced to the islands by Macassamen (trepang fishermen) who were known to plant all manner of things on some of the places they visited during their travels. - A. W. Dockrill, Australian Indigenous Orchids
People collect baseball cards and people collect plant seeds. In reality, it is not all that surprising that as people move around they help preserve the genetic diversity of plants. - Norman C. Ellstrand, Maize Germplasm Conservation in Southern California’s Urban Gardens: Introduced Diversity Beyond ex situ and in situ Management
A far less technical way of preserving a species is in gardens. Although the managers of botanical gardens or arboreta are more self-conscious of their role, any gardener can help. The wide cultivation of Bougainvillaea and the para rubber tree, for example, protects them from extinction in tropical America. By collecting and breeding novel plants, nurserymen preserve biological diversity. By selling novel plants, they diversify the places the plants are grown and so help preserve them. - Daniel J. Evans et al, Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming: Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base
Regarding the virtuous cycle of diversity...
Thus, the total diversity of an area provides the pool of competitors for niches in developing ecosystems. The larger the pool, the more likely it is that the system will evolve into a complex, highly interrelated system. And complex, highly interrelated systems provide more niche opportunities for new species. Over time, interspecific dependencies, both of predation and mutualism, will evolve. Further, interspecific competition often aids in avoiding competitive exclusion, as predators concentrate on the competitively advantaged species on any given trophic level. Thus, total diversity plays a key role in the development of ecosystem structure through ecological time. That structure, in turn, provides opportunities for more species to survive and thereby increases total diversity further. Therefore diversity augments diversity in a continuing upward spiral. - Bryan G. Norton, The Preservation of Species
Creating the perfect epiphytic orchids for Mediterranean climates would mean that lots of people would attach these orchids to trees. Because, just like AH... they would require very little supplemental water to grow year around. All these orchids on trees would create new niches for a wide variety of living things. The logical and beneficial outcome would be more diversity.
Right now there are thousands and thousands of people growing millions of epiphytic orchids in Mediterranean climates. All these epiphytic orchids require more supplemental water than AH requires. And because people often don't have the time, or energy, to consistently and regularly water their epiphytic orchids... many epiphytic orchids are killed from dehydration. Basically, people unintentionally help nature select for the most drought tolerant and hercuthermal epiphytic orchids. This means that we will eventually end up with the perfect orchids for Mediterranean climates. Personally, I'd love to have these orchids sooner rather than later!!! It's really hard to imagine that I'm the only person in this boat! So in theory, it shouldn't be a Herculean goal to encourage people to help create/buy/test/share epiphytic orchids that might be better suited for Mediterranean climates.
I knew about the Moas but I didn't realize that there also use to be a giant eagle that preyed on them... Haast's eagle. I always feel ripped off when I learn about a modern extinction...especially when it's something as cool as a giant eagle.
People in the not-so-distant past stole many valuable treasures from us. But it's hard to judge them too harshly because we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. As it stands, most of us are really glad that we don't have to live in "those" times.
Prior to humans visiting New Zealand, the islands didn't have any mammals other than a few bats. As a result, birds had the opportunity to adaptively radiate into the major empty niches. The Moas functioned as deer and the eagles functioned as wolves.
This is relevant because herclivation is based on the premise that there's an abundance of unfilled arboreal niches. For reasons previously discussed, I've argued that we should seriously consider filling them as quickly as possible. But, if we had somehow applied my logic to prehistoric New Zealand and filled the empty niches with deer and wolves...then Moas and Haast's eagles would never have evolved.
This does give me pause...but, then again, Tasmanian Devils and Tigers are/were pretty cool as well.
If us humans weren't around, and barring any natural disaster, in a few million years or so Florida's epiphytic diversity would probably rival the epiphytic diversity of present day Costa Rica. And Canada would have as many epiphytic orchids as Florida currently does.
Maybe future Florida would have had a giant species of Ghost Orchid that was pollinated by a moth the size of a hawk. How crazy cool would that have been?
The not-so-minor detail is that us humans, well, we are around. Maybe in the long long run most of us will rocket away and help terraform a swath of lifeless planets. We'll stop cramping mother nature's style here on earth and she could get back to churning out Moas and giant eagles. But who knows when or if we'll ever make it off this planet (it depends on how long it takes people to understand that progress depends on difference).
Because wild habitats have been drastically reduced in size and number...it's a given that the future is going to have far less biodiversity than it would have had. So if we want the future to have more, rather than less biodiversity, then I think we need to seriously consider trying to help maximize the speciation potential of any and all habitats. This means filling empty niches with life...which, over time, will change and adapt to the different selective pressures of the new environments. As I've argued before, places like Florida are a good place to start because there's an abundance of unoccupied arboreal niches.
We can imagine mother nature as a scientist in a laboratory churning out new species. Here we are on this forum because we're big fans of the orchids that she's produced. What's important to understand is that every output, whether it's a Ghost Orchid or a Haarst eagle, depends on inputs. The two main inputs that mother nature needs for her outputs are wild habitats and genetic material. If either input is reduced then her output will also be reduced. Given that we've drastically reduced the amount of wild habitat that she has to work with, mother nature's productivity will drastically suffer...unless we offset the reduction of habitat material by giving her more genetic material to work with.
So the basic function looks something like this...
xSpace * yGenes = zSpecies
x and y are the inputs and z is the output. We've slashed x which means we need to boost y in order to avoid ripping off future generations. They won't get Moas and Haast's eagles but they'll get Tasmanian Tigers/Devils...which are pretty cool consolation prizes.
One thing I feel compelled to note is that it can't be the rule that introduced exotics decrease biodiversity. Or else each exotic plant introduced to the Hawaiian Islands over the past 28 million years would have reduced biodiversity. You can't have much biodiversity if every introduction results in the loss of one established species. Errr...you can't have any biodiversity because the second exotic plant species would simply have replaced the first...and the third species would have replaced the second...
It could certainly be prudent to play it safe by arguing against the introduction of any species anywhere...but I think the priority should really be determining why some introduced species increase, rather than decrease, biodiversity.
The first plant to establish in Hawaii was like the first person on the bus. They had their pick of seats. It would be surprising for the second person to board the bus and force the first person out of their seat. "Hey, that's my seat!" It's not the greatest analogy because we have to imagine people being better suited to certain seats on a bus.
How many seats (microhabitats) are there in Hawaii? We can imagine an epiphyte boarding the bus and seeing that all the seats were taken..."it's ok, I prefer sitting on the roof". Epiphytes have no problem sitting in really uncomfortable seats. That's why they really increase the biodiversity to space ratio.
When I spent three years in the jungles of Panama...I really can't say that I saw a lot of people sitting on top of the buses. Epiphytes were the exception rather than the rule. Then again, I spent most of my time on the "drier" Pacific side.
Oncidium cebolleta grows in the dry forests of the Americas and Dendrobium canaliculatum grows in the dry forests of Australia. I would be extremely surprised if their cross introductions resulted in the loss of biodiversity. There are plenty of empty uncomfortable seats. Or maybe they would say to each other like two old time western gunslingers..."this here town ain't big enough for the two of us".
Epiphytic orchids, unlike other epiphytes such as bromeliads, rarely ever have high density populations. Generally they are few and far between. For me this seems to indicate that the rule for introduced orchids will not be a reduction in biodiversity.
Not sure if I'm remembering/interpreting a paper correctly...but a study of established reed stem Epidendrums in Hawaii seemed to indicate that they've already started to noticeably differentiate in the past 50 or so years since they've naturalized. It's pretty amazing how quickly they've adapted to the selective pressures of a new environment. I wonder how long it would take for them to become a new subspecies...and eventually a new species.
I'm always talking about plants...it's pretty ridiculous. Actually I recently thought about walking around my neighborhood knocking on doors and asking people if they wanted some free Aloe thraskii seedlings. I have two flats worth. LOL...I just tried to imagine people's reactions. *awkward*
I'm very socially inept...but it would be kinda neat to walk around and see how much variation there was among the siblings. I think some of them have Aloe vaombe as their other parent. Around 5% of the seedlings have leaves that are noticeably wider and redder. Plus, they put out their second leaves sooner than the others...hybrid vigor perhaps...hopefully.
Maybe I could avoid the awkward interactions by just leaving the seedlings on people's porches. Perhaps I could do this once a year...kinda like a creepy Santa Claus....errrrr...Aloe Claus...wearing a dried Hercules leaf like a necktie? Should we pick one day of the year where we all go around the neighborhood leaving small gift plants on people's porches? Who do we have to call about starting a new national holiday? If anybody left any edibles on my porch I'd have to find somebody to trade with. Unless it was a longan seedling. Or a coconut seedling.
Maybe the bees will bribe me to be Aloe Claus. They LOVE thraskii...it really closely matches their preferences. How many jars of honey would I have to find on my porch in order for me to go around disseminating thraskii to all my neighbors? 5 jars?
Hmmm...I just remembered that when I was growing up...my mom persuaded several of the neighbors to plant Jacarandas as street trees...and she even paid for some of them. She's long gone but the trees are still there...blooming so nicely...and then making a mess.
Has anybody else left a noticeable green thumbprint on their neighborhood? I wonder who left their green thumbprint on my neighborhood...the street trees are really really tall Washingtonia robustas...
It's no joke when their dead fronds fall!
If I disseminated thraskii to my neighbors...once they were large enough...it would be super cool to leave this miniature orchid on people's porches. In this zoomed out photo you can see that it's growing on an Aloe. That would be my green thumbprint...a neighborhood with a bunch of miniature orchids growing all over a bunch of tree Aloes.
