Last month I got myself adorable little orchid with bright yellow flowers which to my amusement happen to be fragrant. To me that was an OMG moment потому что раньше я и понятия не имела что орхидеи могут пахнуть да ещё та чудесно. A week later I got yet another fragrant orchid from the same supermarket, this time it was purple and it had a different scent. Началось интернетное расследование. It turns out there are hundreds of well known fragrant orchids available thru local nurseries and online. After all, from 25 000 discovered orchid species some can be fragrant – nothing wrong with that.
Back to my orchids. Of course they got properly replanted and we got rid of those sticks and clips holding the flowers in upright position for easy transportation. Они чем-то напоминают мне костыли.
The yellow one happened to be miss Phalaenopsis Golden Pixie and it smells with mixture of vanilla and fruit of Buddha’s Hand Citron. The leaves are lighter than leaves of the rest of my small orchids, the flowers are about inch and a half yellow /gold with tiny light brown specks. It would probably love to live in my little IKEA greenhouse but the fragrance is so divine that I selfishly chose to keep it by my bedside.
The purple orchid is some miniature variety of Phalaenopsis violacea (Moth Orchid). The fact is it moth orchid, therefore night-pollinated предполагает что запах орхидеи интенсивнее в ночное время как раз когда активны мотыльки. По сравнению с желтой пикси запах цветков намного слабее и прямо скажем на любителя. По форме и размеру цветки очень похожи на цветки желтой орхидеи и на первый взгляд отличаются только цветом. Phalaenopsis violacea is native to tropical forests of Malaysia and Sumatra and very easy to grow.
Orchid’s scent along with their color, shape and size is a way to attract their specific pollinators. Most of their pollinators are insects such as butterflies, moths, flies, bees, and some hummingbirds. Some orchids produce pleasant aroma, others (especially those attracting flies and gnats) may smell to us plain awful. Hence, while most orchids look gorgeous finding out the kind of the scent they have can be critical especially when buying online.
The fragrant orchids below are more or less appropriate for the beginner grower. For more comprehensive list of fragrant orchids with description of their aromas you may want to look at the catalog from the Canadian orchids congress. Unfortunately the catalog has no images but it still allows to look up the kind of scent given you know the name of the specific orchid.
Popular easy to grow fragrant orchids
Brassavola nodosa (lily-of-the-valley)
Brassavola ‘Little Stars’ (sweet)
Cattleya alliance orchids tend to have floral, sweet, citrus fragrances
Cochleanthes amazonica (spicy, candy)
Dendrobuim anosmum (raspberry, strawberry or rhubarb)
Dendrobuim parishii (berries)
Dendrobium nobile (floral)
Encyclia fragrans (vanilla, honey)
Encyclia radiata (coconut)
Lycaste aromatica (cinnamon)
Maxillaria tenuifolia (coconut)
Miltoniopsis (rose)
Neofinetia falcata (coconut and jasmine)
Oncidium Sharry Baby (chocolate and vanilla)
Oncidium Twinkle (vanilla)
Oncidium Hawaiian Sunset (floral)
Oncidium cheirophorum (sweet, citrus)
Oncidium ornithorhynchum (vanilla)
Phalaenopsis Caribbean Sunset (rose)
Phalaenopsis Coral Isles (citrus)
Phalaenopsis Orchid World ‘Roman Holiday’ (spicy)
Phalaenopsis schilleriana (rose)
Phalaenopsis violacea (floral)
Vanda coerulescens (grape bubble gum)
Zygopetalum (hyacinth)
