Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 staff. Its board of trustees is chaired by Dame Amelia Fawcett.
Vanda, abbreviated in the horticultural trade as V., is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are about 87 species, and the genus is commonly cultivated for the marketplace. This genus and its allies are considered to be among the most specifically adapted of all orchids within the Orchidaceae. The genus is highly prized in horticulture for its showy, fragrant, long-lasting, and intensely colorful flowers. Vanda species are widespread across East Asia, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea, with a few species extending into Queensland and some of the islands of the western Pacific.
Pachystoma, commonly known as kunai orchids or 粉口兰属 , is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. They are deciduous, terrestrial herbs with one or two linear, pleated or veiny leaves and more or less drooping flowers which do not open widely, on a thin, wiry flowering stem. Species in this genus are found in tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean.
Drakaea is a genus of 10 species in the plant family Orchidaceae commonly known as hammer orchids. All ten species only occur in the south-west of Western Australia. Hammer orchids are characterised by an insectoid labellum that is attached to a narrow, hinged stem, which holds it aloft. The stem can only hinge backwards, where the broadly winged column carries the pollen and stigma. Each species of hammer orchid is pollinated by a specific species of thynnid wasp. Thynnid wasps are unusual in that the female is flightless and mating occurs when the male carries a female away to a source of food. The labellum of the orchid resembles a female thynnid wasp in shape, colour and scent. Insect pollination involving sexual attraction is common in orchids but the interaction between the male thynnid wasp and the hammer orchid is unique in that it involves the insect trying to fly away with a part of the flower.
Elmer Drew Merrill was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through the course of his career he authored nearly 500 publications, described approximately 3,000 new plant species, and amassed over one million herbarium specimens. In addition to his scientific work he was an accomplished administrator, college dean, university professor and editor of scientific journals.
Alocasia sanderiana, commonly known as the kris plant or Sander's alocasia, is a plant in the family Araceae. It is endemic to Northern Mindanao in the Philippines, but is commonly grown as an ornamental plant worldwide. It is classified as critically endangered in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Vatica mangachapoi is a species of plant in the family Dipterocarpaceae.
Trichoglottis, commonly known as cherub orchids or 毛舌兰属 , is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are epiphytic plants with thick roots, relatively thick, fibrous stems and many large, thick, leathery leaves arranged in two ranks. The flowers are usually small and yellowish with light brown or purple markings. The flowers have broad sepals, narrower petals and a labellum which has three lobes and is often hairy. There are about 85 species distributed from tropical and subtropical Asia to the north-western Pacific. Most species grow in rainforest.
Anacamptis palustris is a species of orchid. It is found in Europe, North Africa and western Asia. This orchid is native to Western and Central Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Balearic Islands, Turkey, Western Asia, Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa, and Saudi Arabia.
Dendrobium bigibbum, commonly known as the Cooktown orchid or mauve butterfly orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has cylindrical pseudobulbs, each with between three and five green or purplish leaves and arching flowering stems with up to twenty, usually lilac-purple flowers. It occurs in tropical North Queensland, Australia and New Guinea.
Dendrobium tetragonum, commonly known as the tree spider orchid, is a variable species of epiphytic or lithophytic orchid endemic to eastern Australia. Tree spider orchids are unusual in having pendulous pseudobulbs that are thin and wiry near the base then expand into a fleshy, four-sided upper section before tapering at the tip. There are only a few thin but leathery leaves at the end of the pseudobulbs and up to five flowers on relatively short flowering stems. To allow for the variations in the species there are five subspecies and a variety, some with a unique common name.
Orchis italica, the naked man orchid or the Italian orchid, is a species of orchid native to the Mediterranean Basin. It gets its common name from the lobed lip (labellum) of each flower which mimics the general shape of a naked man. In Italy, it is believed that the consumption of the plant is conducive to virility. It prefers partial shade and low nutrient soil, and flowers in April. Orchis italica grows up to 50 centimetres (20 in) in height, with bright pink, densely clustered flowers.
Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer was an American botanist and plant collector. He was mostly active in the Philippines, his collections being described as new species by both himself and other botanists. The Japanese sent him into Santo Tomas Internment Camp during the Philippines campaign and he perished there.
Trichoglottis biglandulosa is a species of flowering plant from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is endemic to the island of Java in Indonesia. It is part of the monopodial subtribe Aeridinae and bears nearly white flowers that are proportionally large compared to the rest of the plant.
Dendrobium ceraula is a species of orchid endemic to the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
Trichoglottis atropurpurea, the dark purple trichoglottis, is a species of orchid endemic to the Philippines. This hot to warm growing epiphyte was first found growing in mangrove swamps in the islands of Biliran, Catanduanes, Mindanao and Polillo. The plant shares the same appearance with T. philippinensis except for the rich dark color of the blooms and slight variation of the perianth. This species was first described in 1877 by the German botanist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, an expert on the orchid family. At that time, thousands of newly discovered orchids were being sent back to Europe, and he was responsible for identifying, describing and classifying many of these new discoveries.
Petersianthus quadrialatus is an emergent tropical rainforest tree species in the Lecythidaceae family. In the Visayas region called kapullan, in the Samar and Leyte areas - magtalisai. It is an indigenous tree species in the southeastern Philippines and one of the largest tree species in the Philippines islands.
Dendrobium × usitae, or Usita's dendrobium, is a species of epiphytic orchid endemic to the Philippines. It is a natural hybrid between D. bullenianum and D. goldschmidtianum and can be easily distinguished from both species by its purplish orange flower. The specific epithet honors Villamor T. Usita of Quezon City, who discovered the species from Calayan, one of the five major islands of Babuyan archipelago. In its native habitat, the plant grows hanging on trees at an elevation of 500 to 700 meters above sea level alongside its parent species. The pendulous stem of D. × usitae can reach a length of 60 centimeters.
Vanda roeblingiana, Roebelen's vanda, is a species of orchid endemic to the mountain provinces of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Hugh Low, a British colonial administrator and naturalist introduced the plant to London in 1893. The next year, Robert Allen Rolfe, an English botanist formally described the plant and thought it was originally collected from the vicinity of Singapore or Peninsular Malaysia. Low, who works in Clapton Nursery had collecting expedition to Southeast Asia with Singapore as headquarter.
Trichoglottis australiensis, commonly known as the weeping cherub orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic clump-forming orchid. It has thick, cord-like roots, flattened, branching stems, many thick, leathery, glossy leaves and between two and six creamy yellow flowers with reddish blotches. This orchid only occurs in tropical North Queensland.
