Aerides odorata – 365 days of orchids – day 1612

This exquisite and delightfully fragrant species is another that we have come across in our orchid travels.

We have seen Aerides odorata in Borneo and the Himalayas showing the extensive natural range of the species. In Borneo we found the species flowering at the foot of Mount Pueh (below) where a pale yellow and pink form was growing on the trunks of trees in open forest,

and one of The highlights of the trek up Mount Singai was the a lovely white and yellow form of Aerides odorata(below) where plants were growing in shade amongst tall trees at 100m altitude. The first photo shows one of several flowering plants with the characteristic long curved spur.

In cultivation our plant enjoys our Warm Asia section (min 17C) with water year round but more in the summer. We have had our plant of Aerides odorata since 1996 and in the past 25 years it has grown to massive proportions. Aerides odorata ‘Writhlington’ has won two CCCs (Cultural Certificates from the RHS and must be one of Europe’s largest vandaceous plants at 2.5m high and 2m across and over 50 flower spikes.

Today we photographed Harris with our plant, and although he is our tallest student he is still dwarfed by Aerides odorata. Harris runs our Warm Asia section and was also one of the students to find the species in Sarawak in 2019.

WSBEorchids

Aerides odorata – 365 days of orchids – day 1612

Join the Discussion

Discussion