Six on Saturday #62 (January 2, 2021)

Macleania sp. aff smithiana

2021 has started cloudy and damp, and since we have already had several hard freezes this winter, there isn’t much that’s growing outside apart from a some cold-weather greens in the vegetable garden. This Six on Saturday is, therefore, a grab bag of tropical plants from my greenhouse.

1. Paphiopedilum purpuratum

Paphiopedilum purpuratum is a small slipper orchid native to Hong Kong and adjacent mainland China. According to the IUCN Red List, it is critically endangered, with fewer than 250 individual plants surviving in the wild. Despite its rarity in the wild, it is well established in cultivation, and artificially propagated seedlings like this one are relatively inexpensive, making it even sadder that the wild plants are still collected for unscrupulous horticulturalists.

2. Hippeastrum puniceum ‘Ibitipoca’

Ibitipoca is a locality in Minas Gerais state, presumably where this clone of H. puniceum was originally collected.

3. Burbidgea schizocheila (golden brush ginger)

This very attractive dwarf ginger, endemic to Borneo, was once difficult to find in cultivation, but it is now being mass produced and shows up at local garden centers. I keep it outside in the summer, and it seems to flower mostly in winter without a prolonged dormant period.

4. Cavendishia capitulata (Huntington Botanical Gardens #92102)

Flowering for the first time after growing for five years in my greenhouse, this pretty little shrub is an epiphytic member of the blueberry family (Ericaceae) from Costa Rica, Panama, and northern Colombia. Like the Macleania species that I have previously discussed, its flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. I really love the fantastic shapes and colors of the neotropical Ericaceae, and I hope that the Cavendishia will prove to be as floriferous as the Macleania, which flowers almost nonstop now that it has reached a decent size (see photo at top of this page).

5. Nepenthes tobaica

See Six on Saturday #12 for more information about Nepenthes pitcher plants. N. tobaica is a smallish species endemic to the region around Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra. My plant is still fairly young and only recently started producing fully mature pitchers.

6. Nepenthes rafflesiana

N. rafflesiana is a much larger species with a wider native range encompassing Borneo, Sumatra, Singapore, and penisular Malaysia. Compared to the clone that I previously photographed (see picture 5), this seed-grown plant has more squat lower pitchers, and I prefer its more evenly distributed red speckling and dark red petioles.

The Propagator is the host of Six on Saturday. Head over there to see his Six for this week and find links to the blogs of other participants.