I have a Dendrophylax species that I've been growing for about 6 years now. Last year, it produced an inflorescence for the first time. The plant is on a vertical mount, and the inflorescence grew straight up for about 15 inches until it pressed against the mount of a plant above. Then, it produced a terminal keiki. Presumably, if the plant had been growing on a tree trunk, the keiki would have been positioned to grow higher on the same trunk.
I left the keiki attached to the mother plant, so that it would grow faster. This Spring, the mother plant produced another inflorescence, identical to the first. At about the same time, the keiki produced an inflorescence that I could immediately see was different. Even at its earliest stages, a small knob was visible on the keiki's inflorescence, while no swelling is visible on the inflorescences of the mother plant. This knob is now obviously a single flower bud. The inflorescence with flower bud grew out at an ~45 degree angle from the plant, unlike the other two inflorescence which grew straight up. The flowering inflorescence is only a couple of inches long, unlike the other two which are over a foot long. There's no sign of a keiki yet on the second elongated inflorescence, but I predict it will prioduce one, since it lacks a flower bud. So, questions: Has similar behavior been described for other orchids? That is, do they produce inflorescences that are predetermined to generate a keiki and that are morphologically quite distinct from inflorescences that produce flowers? I'm guessing that the keiki is just in a better location (brighter, moister, whatever) than the mother plant, but that suggests the inflorescence can be modified in response to its environmental conditions. Is it also possible that this species wants to form a clump of attached plants before it will flower? Either way, it seems pretty interesting to me. The plant is supposed to be D. fawcettii, but confirmation will have to await the flower. Nick -- Nicholas Plummer [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
