{"id":5201,"date":"2018-12-09T18:45:22","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T18:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=5201"},"modified":"2018-12-09T18:45:22","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T18:45:22","slug":"adventbotany-2018-day-9-christmas-or-star-of-bethlehem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2018\/12\/09\/adventbotany-2018-day-9-christmas-or-star-of-bethlehem\/","title":{"rendered":"#AdventBotany 2018, Day 9: Christmas Orchid or Star of Bethlehem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Angraecum sesquipedale<\/i> (Photo: snotch [CC BY 2.0])<\/figcaption><\/figure>The wonderfully named\u00a0Angraecum sesquipedale<\/em> is also known as the Chritsmas orchid or Darwin’s orchid.\u00a0 It seems an appropriate plant to write about as it brings together a reminder of Christmas with the father of evolution, Charles Darwin, himself a Unitarian christian.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an orchid species native to Madagascar discovered by a French botanist, Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars, in 1798 but not described as a new species until 1822.\u00a0 One of it\u2019s most notable features is an extremely long nectar spur some 30-45cm long.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Angraecum sesquipedale<\/i> showing the lengthy nectar spurs hanging below the flowers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Xanthopan morgani<\/i>, the moth that pollinates the Christmas orchid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This lengthy nectar spurt caused Charles Darwin to predict there must be a pollinating moth with a proboscis of matching length. Sadly the moth was not discovered until 21 years after Darwin\u2019s death in 1882.\u00a0 The discovery of the moth was seen as support for Darwin\u2019s theory of evolution.<\/p>\n

So we have a brief version of why this plant might be known as Darwin’s orchid, but why is it also known as the Christmas orchid?\u00a0 That’s a consequence of Madagascar being in the Southern hemisphere but a lot of orchid growers being in the norther hemisphere.\u00a0 In the wild, this species flowers in June\/July (mid winter – as far as that is relevant to Madagascar) but when it’s brought to the northern hemisphere it flowers in December\/January and is frequently in bloom for Christmas.<\/p>\n

This orchid is reportedly quite easy to grow\u00a0 if you get the conditions right – 18-25C day and 10-15C night, a very well drained coarse bark growing medium,50-70% releative humidity, good air circulation and regular watering… so perhaps not an ideal windowsill plant for most of us!\u00a0 This is lowland tropical wet.\u00a0 If you have the conditions then the flowers of this plant are reputed to have a very good scent at night – something I can’t tell from photos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wonderfully named\u00a0Angraecum sesquipedale is also known as the Chritsmas orchid or Darwin’s orchid.\u00a0 It seems an appropriate plant to write about as it brings together a reminder of Christmas…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":5204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52,53,54],"tags":[29,228,229,230,231],"class_list":["post-5201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-herbarium-rng","category-public-engagement-with-science","tag-adventbotany","tag-adventbotany2018","tag-christmas-orchid","tag-darwins-orchid","tag-star-of-bethlehem-orchid"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n#AdventBotany 2018, Day 9: Christmas Orchid or Star of Bethlehem - 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