Stanhopea wardii

 

Stanhopea wardii var. citrina inflorescence with five flowers

This species is native to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela.  It grows in warm to cool cloud forests from 2600 – 5300 feet (800-1600 meters) in elevation.  It is one of the easier species of Stanhopea to grow outside here in southern California, and can take early morning sun and dappled shade the rest of the day.  This form is S. wardii var. citrina and has green/yellow flowers when they first open, almost chartreus in color.  The flowers later fade to a more burnt yellow or golden yellow color.  The standard form is a more subdued yellow color.  Both forms have a black eye spot on the upper hypochile that is a deep golden yellow color.  The fragrance of this Stanhopea is rather intense lemon/citrus at first.  After the flowers have been open for a few hours the fragrance lessens to a tart lime fragrance similar to crushed lime leaves.  It is a very pleasant and clean fragrance.  This seems to be consistent with the fragrance study done that includes limonene in some clones at 1.7%.; however, I have not detected the 1.8 cineole of 1-33% that would give it a Eucalyptus or camphor-like fragrance in this form.

 

Stanhopea wardii var. citrina close up

The flower is 2.8 to 3.1 inches (7.0 to 8 cm) wide but there are usually several flowers (7-10) on a given inflorescence.   The inflorescences can be quite long, up to 9 inches (22.9 cm) in length in many S. wardii forms.  Because the inflorescences are so long, this species can make a very nice specimen placed in a large basket that enables the inflorescences to grow out and down.  The leaves of this orchid are a thick and leathery, green with a slight blue-gray tint to them, and are 9 to 16 inches  (22.9 to 40.6 cm) long and 2.8 to 3.8 inches (7.1 to 9.6 cm)  wide.  This orchid is one of the more easily grown species of Stanhopea and are often readily available in the orchid nursery trade.  For me, S. wardii has been a reliable bloomer every year and easily produces several inflorescences.  These attributes make this Stanhopea a good candidate to grow for a beginning grower.



Stanhopea wardii var.
citrina bud


The buds that are close to opening have a fantastic flourescent chartreus color, and the reddish brown spotts on the sepals can be seen before the flower opens!



Stanhopea Resources

 

This list of resources is not intended to be all encompassing.  I have listed some resources that I think will be most useful to the Stanhopea grower.  If you know of a good resource, please feel free to post a comment so that other people can learn from your experiences.

Web Resources

Stanhopea Pages - Nina Rach's excellent page on the genus

Essence of Stanhopea - A fantastic blog full of information and photos of Stanhopea

Stanhopeas Aren't Finicky - This a a great beginners guide to growing Stanhopeas by Barney Greer

Stanhopea Passion - Fernand Faria's blog of Stanhopea photos and ecology - in French

Stanhopea Collection From Gabriel - Nice blog with species photos and cultural information

IOSPE - Orchid photo encyclopedia that also has descriptions - search on Stanhopea

Orchid Board - This is a Catasetum and Stanhopea Alliance forum - you can search for Stanhopea posts

Foxdale Orchids - A rather good series of photographs of Stanhopea species and hybrids.

Books

The Stanhopea Book - Rudolf Jenny's excellent monograph of the genus Stanhopea.

The Astonishing Stanhopeas - Barney Greer's book on the culture of several Stanhopea species grown in Australia.

Publications

Dodson, C.H. and G.P. Frymire. 1961. Preliminary Studies in the Genus Stanhopea (Orchidaceae), Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden v. 48 (2) pp. 137-172. May .

Dondson, C.H.  1963. The Mexican Stanhopeas.  American Orchid Society Bulletin. pp 115-129. February.

Jenny, R. 1993. The Genus Stanhopea.  American Orchid Society Bulletin. pp 1270-1276 December.

Kennedy, G.C. 1975. The Stanhopeas of Mexico.  Orchid Digest.  pp 178-182 Sept.-Oct.

Kimnach, M. 1978. The cultivation of Stanhopeas. AOS Bulletin 47(9): 784-794.
 

Kraus, L. 1984.  The culture of Stanhopeas – “Confessions of a Requited Lover”. AOS Bulletin 53(4): 358-366.

Plant Sources

 There are too many suppliers of orchids to list them all, so I would suggest the following website where you can search for orchid nurseries nearest to your location.  This site also has some good lists of websites and blogs for orchids as well:

Orchidwire
 

Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea 'Predator'

S. tigrina var. nigroviolacea 'Predator" with two new flowers opening.

Awesome is an adjective that I like to use to describe this orchid.  It is one of my favorite varieties of Stanhopea that I usually place with S. tigrina var. nigroviolacea.  This orchid has some of the darkest and most intense oxblood, to almost black color on the petals and sepals.  As the grex name implies it is named after a favored cinematic alien invader that hunted humans.  The comparison of the photos here will allow you to make up your own mind…..they do resemble each other to me!

S. tigrina var. nigroviolacea 'Predator' with
four inflorescences open.

This plant is one of my older specimens and I re-basketed it last year.  Since I had purchased it over 10 years ago, it consistently provided me 2 inflorescences each year until last year when it only had one flower.  This year it has rewarded me with nine inflorescences and four have opened all at once.  This orchid has a strong fragrance that is very intense in the cool of the morning until about 11:00 a.m.  A large plant such as this one can produce several inflorescences, and the fragrance of the flowers can be so intense that it can be detected 20 feet away from the plant.  Some people find the fragrance too strong, and almost intoxicating!  The fragrance of these orchids is often described as chocolate and vanilla.  The major component of the fragrance of this orchid and several other Stanhopeas is phenylethyl acetate which can often provide a floral, fruity, or Liqueur-like fragrance.

 

Stanhope tigrina is a sturdy plant for southern California and is not only one of the showiest species in the genus, but is rather easy to grow.  It can often take early morning sun along the coast without burning and dappled shade the rest of the day.  Average fertilizer and water throughout the year are all it demands.  This is one species that can easily be placed in a large basket because the inflorescences can reach over 8 inches in length (20 cm) and can easily grow out of larger baskets.  These orchids produce the largest flowers in the genus and can approach 6 inches (15 cm) in width.  The leaves are tough and leathery 10.0 -12.5 inches (25.4-31.8) cm long and 3.3-4.5 inches (8.3-11.4) cm wide.

Here is another of my attempts at timelaps photography of Stanhopeas.  I was only able to get the last half of these two flowers opening.  It is difficult to get to the flowers before they open in the morning, so I had better be up at 4:00 a.m. for the next chance. 

Stanhopea shuttleworthii



Stanhopea shuttleworthii buds glowing
in the morning sun, 2 days from opening.

Waiting and watching Stanhopea inflorescences mature and come into bloom is part of the fun of growing this genus.  It is especially satisfying to witness the first flowering of a plant for the year.  This orchid surprised me by producing five inflorescences this year and the first one was way ahead of the rest.  This orchid was in bloom for a good 3 weeks, though with only one or two inflorescences at a time open.  Once Stanhopeas grow large enough, they are able to provide you with weeks of bloom even thought the individual flowers may last 3-5 days.

Stanhopea shuttleworthii with 5 inflorescences

This Stanhopea is native to Colombia and is found in foothills around 3000 feet (1000 m) in elevation. This species is listed as a warm grower, but seems to do just fine outside here in southern California.  It is provided a little extra shelter of a roof overhang in winter, so the plant is grown a bit warmer than some of my other species. I have this growing on the north-east side of the house and it only gets approximately 1 hour of direct sun in the summer.  The leaves are 15 - 17 inches (38.1 - 43.2 cm) long, 3.4 - 3.8 inches (8.6 - 9.5 cm) wide, and narrowly lanceolate in shape. The flowers are 5.6 inches (14.3 cm) wide.



Stanhopea shuttleworthii hypochile detail

This form has deep golden yellow sepals and petals with several reddish-brown large spots. The petals have large deep red eye spots at the base. The hypochile is primarily yellow with dark blood red eyespots on the side with what appears to be blood red smears on the inside of the hypochile.  The horns and epichile are primarily white with small red spots on the inside of the horns and top of the epichile.  There are forms that have lighter yellow sepals and petals with lighter reddish spots.

The fragrance of S. shuttleworthii is difficult to describe.  Some people say it smells like mothballs, others say it smells like an expensive perfume.  The fragrance shifts a bit, first smelling similar to vanilla when the flowers first open, later a combination of sweet mothballs and a light lemon scent.  After the flower has been open for a few hours, the fragrance reminds me of lemon meringue.  Most people find the fragrance rather pleasing and a good combination.

 

 

One of my first attempts to capture Stanhopeas flowering. The difficulty is making sure you are up early enough to have the equipment running in order to capture all the movements of the buds opening ;-)

How do you know your Stanhopea is happy?

 

Stanhopea shuttleworthii in bud

Other than the rather easy answer that your Stanhopea blooms consistently for you every year, there are other signs to observe that can help you understand how well your Stanhopea is growing.  A flowering Stanhopea is usually a content Stanhopea. I have noticed that they will not flower if they are severely stressed or not in the correct environment.  A Stanhopea that consistently produces several inflorescences every year is large enough and being provided the right care in order for it to put a great amount of effort and resources into flowering well.



Stanhopea insignis exhibiting older robust
pseudobulbs and new growth.

A plant that has several new and mature growths is doing well and will have the energy reserves to flower the following year.  A plant that has large pseudobulbs (this varies according to the species) is more likely to produce larger growths and more inflorescences.  Large and firm pseudobulbs are a sign that the plant is doing well.  Some species have folds or wrinkled surfaces such as S. insignis that may look like they are desiccated.  However, if you gently press the pseudobulb between your thumb and index finger and it is firm, then the plant is doing well.  However, if the pseudobulb is spongy or soft, then the plant may be getting either too much or too little water. 




Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea
producing several inflorescences

Once you have grown your Stanhopea for a few years, you may want to make a trophy plant out of it, re-basket it into a large basket and let it fill the entire container. This will provide you with a massive plant that will produce several if not dozens of inflorescences and bloom for several weeks. These trophy plants are very attractive and show stoppers. However, your orchid cannot remain in the same container forever, and it will eventually decline unless it is divided and re-basketed. Several growers have reported that a Stanhopea that was in decline and not blooming well was invigorated by dividing it and re-basketing the pieces.



Stanhopea gibbosa new root growth

Another sign that a plant is doing well is that it is producing new roots with green growth at the tips, this signifies a growing and elongating root.  The roots should be produced around the base of new pseudobulbs and also throughout the basket. In fact, I usually consider a Stanhopea is doing very well when you can see root growth around the outside edge of the basket.  This signifies that the plant is growing well and producing enough root growth to encompass the entire basket.  This root growth takes advantage of all the water and nutrients in the growing medium every time you water.  Root growth is most evident in the spring and summer months. If roots are not actively growing at this time, you may want to check your plant and make sure that it is receiving the correct amount of water. 

A plant that is not getting enough water will have a growing medium that is dry and the basket will be very light.  Your plant should always be moist, but not sopping wet.  An over dry plant will have roots that will turn gray in color and the roots will begin to die and become desiccated.  If your plant is receiving too much water the roots may not be receiving enough air for gas exchange.  In this last case the media will be soggy and the roots will look very dark brown to black and may be rotting in the anaerobic environment.





Gongora galeata

Gongora galeata with several inflorescences

Gongora (Acropera) galeata

This is a small Mexican species that was originally the type for the genus Gongora, unless you agree that it should be in its own genus of Acropera. This plant is easy to maintain in a 5” basket and the thin strap shaped leaves are small enough to be a miniature plant in the collection. The leaves are 6.0 - 9.0 inches (15 - 22.5 cm) long and 1.0 - 1.5 inches (2.5 - 3.8 cm) wide. This species is found in cloud forests from 1,970 - 5,900 feet (600 to 1800 meters) in elevation and prefers warm conditions with constant moisture and good air movement.  It does perform well in southern California growing outdoors given extra moisture is provided to prevent desiccation because of the small size of the plant. This orchid also prefers a location that always has air movement, and part shade.  Unfortunately, this plant’s leaves are easily affected by a fungus that causes leaf spot when there is not enough air movement. Leaf tip burn can be a problem in areas where water is high in salts and dissolved solids. 

Gongora galeata close up of flowers

The flowers are often seen as a form with a yellow or golden labellum (lip) with red spots at the base, and reddish brown to flesh pink sepals and petals. There is also a form that has bright yellow/green sepals and petals which provides a nice contrast with the labellum. The fragrance of this orchid has often been described as similar to an orange. I have only detected this fruit-like fragrance as subtle in the forms that I grow, and instead would describe it as a nice clean fragrance similar to freshly laundered and starched shirts!

Micaela's Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea

Micaela's Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea

This form was grown by my friend Micaela from the Riverside-San Bernardino Counties Orchid Society and has two inflorescences on each side of the basket. This plant has bloomed for her for two years in a row. She has to water it quite often in the summer when the temperatures are warm.  It is planted in sphagnum moss and is being grown outdoors under a patio....way to go Micaela!

My form of S. tigrina var. nigroviolacea

Comparing Micaela's form above and mine to the left exhibits a wide array of color variation in this variety . These two forms differ in the amount and intensity of the oxblood coloration on the sepals and petals, and the white and yellow coloration particularly on the hypochile.  This is my form that bloomed last July for the first time in 5 years. I was attempting to grow the plant in a new location and it received too much sun.The leaves were scorched by the end of summer, and I had to rebasket the plant to try to save it. Five years later, it finally forgave the treatment and bloomed again.This year it has two inflorescences growing and is producing four new leaves. 



My form of S. tigrina var. nigroviolacea 
with two flowers


I have learned through trial and error that too much sun and a lack of water will set a mature plant back and prevent a good bloom cycle.  In some cases this will continue for years until the plant is provided with more shade, regular water, and the pseudobulb increases in size enough to allow it to produce an inflorescence.  A life lesson learned….treat your Stanhopeas well and they will reward you!  This is an excellent Stanhopea to grow outdoors in southern California, especially due to the huge 6.7 inch (17 cm) wide flowers and heady vanilla/candy fragrance.