   Images by Neil Soares (Placed
here by J.M.Garg) Trias stocksii flowering: Photographed on my property at Shahapur today. This is very much like Trias stocksii, but the colour is so yellow. T. stocksii that I know has more of reddish brown or reddish yellow flowers. ... can you please check this your plant. There is another species, Trias bonaccordensis both endemic to India. By the way, this should be a new record for Maharastra what ever species it may be. what tree is it growing on? does it have a favorite tree to grow on? Yes! I too am surprised of seeing the flowers that are single colored ones, that too yellow. The one that we get here in further south is brownish/reddish with purple/dark brown/red blotches on the center. This is not even Trias bonaccordensis. Please refer the following link which is a reliable one as far as I experienced, so far. This is something different. I want ... to please preserve some flowers in 70% alcohole and if possible please make a herbarium of the specimen with flowers. Trias stocksii starts flowering here (from Central Karnataka towards further south) by February. I missed this mail earlier among the 100's of mails in my inbox, when I came back from the field. Further, I feel the leaves and bulbs are also different, I mean smaller than Trias stocksii . Shape of leaves are also somewhat different. Yes ..., I too have the book by ..., right now on my table. To me it looks different. There are 6 species of Trias in India namely, Trias bonaccordensis, T. crassifolia, T. disciflora, T. nasuta, T. oblonga and T. stocksii. I am nto sure if the plant pic matches properly with any of these. Color is like hat of T. oblonga but shape and size of petals are not. http://www.orchidshome.com/gallery/trias/#6 The flower size and shape of petals and lower lip is very much like T. stocksii. No other species listed by ... matches the pictures of .... ..., Please look for more Trias on other trees and see whether they also possess the same flowers or different. I, now, think some modification of Trias stocksii. Even then, it would be quite interesting since you can multiply this species asexually. Is there Trias oblonga nearby areas? Thank you all for your feedback. Based my diagnosis on the photographs of T.stockii seen in the book 'Wild Orchids of NW Ghats' by Dr.Satish Pande et al. The orchid featured here is growing on a Teak [Tectona grandis] tree, though most are seen on Lagerstroemia lanceolata [L.microcarpa,Seena,Bhondara] trees. Have not noticed any Trias oblonga orchids, but will keep a check. Sending a few photographs of the flower-buds taken 2 weeks prior. The color of buds (outer perianth) also looks different. Please keep an eye on the orchid on other trees as well for flowers and see the same is happening with plants on other trees as well. Thanks ... for putting up your points. The main issue here is, Hooker didnt talk anything about the colour of the flowers in his original description. So such issue may arise. At the same time, thinking of occurrence of another new species in India is not overruled. ..., yes orchids are generalists as well as specialists in choosing their host trees. But this aspect is understudied in India. I wish if someone could have worked on such topic and come out with some great results. yes that would be a study worthwhile to do... and why do some species of orchids prefer some tree? Orchid seeds dont have endosperm of its own. So to germinate it needs help from a special group of fungi called mycorrhiza. These mycorrhiza are very much habitat specific too. If you remember some basics of fungi then you will know that fungi are highly specific a simple example is that the wheat rust fungi will not cause rust in rice. These mycorrhiza are very much specific where they grow. They are even specific to the moisture content. For a tree if you look at the trunk skeleton, humidity increases as you go to bottom from top of a tree (on the trunk). Hence the ultimate branches are driest where as the main trunk are most moist. Hence mycorrhizal community also differs along the height on the tree trunk. On the other hand when you look at orchids, some are generalists, as they can grow anywhere, i.e. may be they can get associated with any mycorrhiza. But there are specialists which grow exclusively with some particular mycorrhiza. For example, orchids like Aerides multiflora, Aerides odorata, Vanda tessellata etc are generalists and they can grow on many host trees and all parts of the host. But orchids like Oberonia, some of its species are referred to as twig epiphytes. They grow on the ultimate branches of particular host trees. These phenomena can also been seen on the ground orchids. Corallorhiza trifida grows near Betula trees on ground. Hope this answers your question. But this area is still under-studied and hence needs some attention to come out with some better conservation measures for these valuable plants. There is also a theory that almost all plants of the world, at some point of their life history needs a contact of some fungi. yes thank you, truly... it answers the curiosity for a while... but if I sit down to ask really scientifically tough question it would take a lot of time and may be bore the other members... being a physician, I learnt to look at fungi as opportunistic infectious agents... that if given a chance would kill.like the aspergilous in lung or brain or histoplasmosis ... etc.. and then there is candida.. a boon to the modern drug industry... we are always primed to kill fungi as soon as we see them... BUT but trying to sprout banana seeds in my cold nyc apt I needed to wait till some airborne fungi took pity on my seeds in the bottle on a wet gauze and coated them with their slimy growth , and then my seeds sprouted... I developed a sort of fondness for them... |
# Species- Seed plants (families) > M---Z (families & genera) > O > Orchidaceae > Trias > Trias species >