Orchid of the day: Schoenorchis fragrans

Schoenorchis fragrans

We featured this orchid on July 19th, 2015 with our Anthony, providing a visual scale to the size of this miniature orchid. He is in this post too. He was particular interested this time as he kept sniffing the mild fragrance that accompanied the blooms. A little background on our orchid of the day in the following paragraphs.

A) July 4th. Developing flowers buds, not quite there yet.

Schoenorchis fragrans from southeast Asia is one of the absolute smallest vandaceous orchids.  A blooming size plant is the size of a brooch.  That does not mean that it isn’t showy because each flower stem produces a large bunch of bright colored flowers that are just adorable.  It is also known to produce keikis easily.  

B) July 16th.

A keiki is a little baby plant that is produced instead of a flower stem and after some time each keiki will produce its own flower stems.  Last year, the newly acquired plant produced two flower stems.  This year the plant decided to produce one strong flower stem and one keiki is emerging.  This orchid is easily cared for as long as it receives bright light, temperate to warm temperatures and not too much water during winter.  It should be mounted on a piece of cork bark or similar. 

C) Anthony patiently posing with the miniature Schoenorchis fragrans.

D) By July 23rd, all flowers are in bloom.

E) Zooming in. The keiki developing on top.

F) Anthony was totally fascinated by the fragrance of this Schoenorchis fragrans.

He, as always was very gentle.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Until next time, may the 'heat doom' covering the States this week move along and cooler weather comes back soon. Have a good week everyone.