When several plants flower they createa splendiddisplay.
Thebutterfly
Celaenorrhinusasmara
.
FromSWINHOE,C. (1912-13):Lepidoptera
Indica.Volume10,pl.763.
NEWS103
10
Lexicon
Jewel Orchid
Ludisia:means“dancer”or“actor”
discolor:means“variegated”
Goodyera: inhonor of John
Goodyer (1592-1664),anEnglish
botanist.
gardener.An interesting chance instanceof
thiscanbe foundonthewebsiteofBurleigh
Park Orchids at
,
which is also the source of the illustrations
by IanWALTERS.
JewelOrchids in the terrarium
With its colorful leaves andupright habit of
growth - the whorls of leaves grow to
around 15 cm high, the flowering stem
around 45 cm -
Ludisia discolor
is a very
decorativeplant for the terrarium. It canbe
usedeverywhere that simulationof adamp
forest environment is required. The Jewel
Orchid doesn’t need very much light and
hence isalsowell suited to the terrarium for
salamanders, which also prefer it not too
bright.Pot-plant compostor leafmold from
mixed or beech (
Fagus sylvatica
) woodland
makesagoodbottomsubstrate.
Under terrarium conditions propagation
takes place via offshoots, which can be
detached if required. Like the majority of
orchids,
Ludisiadiscolor
ispollinatedbyonly
a few special insect species in thewild, and
in the case of
L. discolor
the species in
question is a butterfly,
Celaenorrhinus
(formerly
Plesioneura
)
asmara
. As long ago
as 1896, H. N. RIDLEY reported (The
Orchideae andApostasiaceae of theMalay
Peninsula. The Journal of the Linnaean
Society - Botany, Vol. 32) that this long-
legged butterfly pollinated the Jewel
Orchid. It can, of course, be pollinated
artificially in cultivation, but hobbyists
practically never manage to raise it from
seed, as germination takes place only in
symbiosiswithcertain fungi.
Ludisiadiscolor
canbe fairly readilypropagatedbyoffshoots.
male
female
male
