New candidate for this month is Thrixspermum subulatum.

Thrixspermum subulatum, (Blume) Rchb.f. 1868, is accepted species by POWO Kew. The native range of this species is Central & S. Taiwan, Thailand to Malesia. It is an epiphytic subshrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Previous Awards:

There are no AOS award for this species!

Description:

Candidate plant has 42 flowers and 1 bud on 15 inflorescences. It is a mounted plant hanging 48 cm below the mount by 23 cm wide.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 1.5 cm;                   NS V -1.2 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 0.7 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 1.0 cm;

Petal W - 0.4 cm;               Petals L - 1.0 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 0.7 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 1.0 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 0.3 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 0.5 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Lovely Malesian species should be easy CBR, if the grower is fortunate enough to get it to a judging.

Horticultural value for perhaps eight hours of bloom is very questionable..

Mary C. Mancini (Accredited Judge, Louisiana Judging Center)

Would not consider it for a quality award but could be a candidate for a CBR.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Thank you for this very interesting genus and flower.

I question if this is subulatum.  The flower shape, color, texture and plant growth do not seem to match. More detail of the lip could help with identification.  Do you know where this originated from?  Wild collection, seed grown?  Specific dimensions on floral parts?  Although I have somewhat limited resources, I'm not finding a good match for an alternative species suggestion.  For me, this is not close enough of a fit to award it as subulatum.

Stems pendulous, compressed, 30-50 cm, branching or unbranched. Leaves many, linear-lanceolate or lorate, 8-15 × 1-2 cm, leathery, thick, often conduplicate and V-shaped especially near base. Inflorescence ca. 1.5 cm, 1-3-flowered; rachis thickened toward apex; floral bracts not distichous, ovate-triangular, very small. Flowers lasting nearly a day, pale yellow, ca. 1.5 cm in diam.; lip white, usually tinged or marked with orange, disk golden yellow; pedicel and ovary green, 1-1.5 cm. Dorsal sepal subelliptic, 8-10 × 4-5 mm, obtuse or acute; lateral sepals slightly oblique, slightly wider. Petals oblong-obovate, ca. 9 × 4 mm, base contracted, apex obtuse; lip 6-7 × 7-9 mm, 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, falcate, acute and recurved; mid-lobe fleshy, slightly retuse; disk with a long, furcate-tipped, white hairy, central callus. Column ca. 2 mm, foot 3-4 mm. Fl. Apr-May.

Thrixspermum subulatum (Blume) Rchb.f., Xenia Orchid. 2: 122 (1868).

https://species.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thrixspermum_subulatum_-_Die_Orchideen_von_Java_-_fig._434_%281912%29.jpg

Andy (Andy’s Orchids Inc., CA, www.andysorchids.com)

The name, Thrixspermum subulatum, is correct. It is a wide spread species with a lot of variants through out its range. This one is from Luzon in the Philippines.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

In which case a CBR could be in order so the species can be formally documented and identified.

Ginna Plude (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

I checked to be sure there were no awards for any of the synonyms (there weren't) so I would definitely vote for a CBR.  It's a well grown, well flowered plant.  For a CHM consideration I think I'd need to see the plant and hear discussion as I am not very familiar with the genus.

Ginna

Emily Quinn (Accredited Judge, Dallas Judging Center)

Appears to be a lovely example of the species. It needs a CBR to get going. Looking at Orchidwiz, I note the flowers are a little smaller but do carry 1 to 4 flowers on inflorescences, as reported by Orchidwiz.

Joe Bryson (Accredited Judge, Florida North-Central Judging Center)

I have been looking at this. I'm not convinced it is correctly named. Is this one of the vert short lived types or lasts 2-3 days? The foliage fits the description and the 2-3 flowers per infl. also fits. The flower color (white) does not look like subulatum, which all photos show deep yellow sepals and petals. It does fit Section Dendrocola as does subulatum and I could not find a flower of this form that is pure white with yellow-orange lip. I would consider a CBR or CHM which would automatically send it to SITF anyway.

Cheers, Joe

Paul Wetter (Senior Judge, West Palm Beach Judging Center)

Thank you for presenting the lovely small species Thrixspermum subulatum for the July Judging.  

This looks like a very nice example of the species that would be worthy of recognition by AOS with a CBR.  Several other Thrisxpermum species have received CBRs and a couple with CHM.  A CBR would also be provisional and allow Species ID Task force to verify, as there are some similarities (which you would expect) to some awarded species in this Genus.

Paul Wetter

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

I was researching something else in research net and decided to look into subulatum more.

Attached are a couple of other articles that reference subulatum that do not look or have descriptions like ours.

I have requested text for a couple of other publications, but have not received them at this time.  (see below)

I found a picture of angustifolium that appears to have a similar lip and lateral sepal structure to ours, but I can't tell if it has the same texture.  I can't find the botanical description to verify it is identity correctly https://orchidofsumatra.blogspot.com/2011/05/thrixspermum-angustifolium-blume-rchbf.html

Either way, the best way forward would be to award it as is so that it can be (hopefully) properly identified as there are only 7 Thrixspermum species in AOS award index, none of which seem to be like this one and more species properly identified is beneficial.

I have enjoyed learning about this genus.

(below are the articles I've asked for)

Taxonomic notes on Thrixspermum (Orchidaceae: Aeridinae), with five new species from Thailand  July 2023

Thrixspermum Lour.

• April 2022

• DOI: 

• 10.1007/978-3-030-97630-9_18

• In book: Orchid Species from Himalaya and Southeast Asia Vol. 3 (R - Z)

Christian Carrillo (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This plant is a classic example of a quality CHM -- 83 to 85 points for me. I feel it’s better than a CBR because the flowers are nicely sized, well presented, and the plant is floriferous, flowering from all different parts of the plant. The plant makes a nice presentation and as we say in the Northeast Center, I wouldn’t mow it down (a CBR), I would like to grow it. The flowers could even be of award quality but I would remain conservative on this decision until a representative species has been recorded in OrchidPro. The plant is also very clean and looks very healthy. This is a great example of an uncommon species (I've never seen it in person).   

Deb Jenson (Student Judge, Chicago Judging Center

Thank you for submitting this lovely and interesting orchid. In researching it, I see that it exhibits the expected traits, with leaves that are deeply channeled and abruptly narrowed apically. I found the flowers attractive, with white sepals and petals that overlap, leaving little margin. I couldn't tell from the photos if the texture is crystalline. I also find the orange marking on the lip attractive as it contrasts with the all-white flower. I would consider this for a CBR award to get this on the AOS database or a CHM award, given the floriferousness of this plant.

David Edgley (Accredited Judge, Western Canada Judging Center)

This is an interesting little flower that, based on the flower lasting a single day, seems to be a candidate for a CBR award. It would seem to be a good representation of the species in good condition. I don’t believe a flower with such a short duration merits a CHM and I suspect this species can grow much larger so I wouldn’t nominate this specimen for a cultural award either.

David Edgley

Exhibitor - Daryl Yerdon, New Hampshire Orchid Society, NH

Virtual Award Description

Forty-two ephemeral flowers and one bud on 15 short, flat, thickened peduncles up to 1.5-cm inflorescences; flower bract small, laterally flattened, bract sheaths base of pedicel, pedicels round up to 1.2-cm; plant pendulous monopodial branching 23-cm by 48-cm hanging below mount 6-cm by 40-cm; plant stems stout, flattened, up to 1.2-cm wide; leaves lanceolate, thick, alternate, distichous up to 1.8-cm by 8.5-cm, base of leaf sheaths stem, distance between leaves 1.5-cm up to 3.0-cm; roots straight, fleshy, tipped green to greenish brown; flowers cupped, white; dorsal sepal obtuse; lateral sepals deltoid, lower basal half convex; petals elliptic; lip white, suffused yellow-orange, rigidly fixed to column, trilobed, side lobes erect, falcate, acute, recurved, apical half pristine white, midlobe thick, slightly retuse, tip pristine white; column and anther cap white; substance firm; texture glossy; recognized for floriferousness and rarity in cultivation; species native to Luzon, Philippines.   

Grower's Advice

This was purchased from Andy’s Orchids so I’m hoping it was sold with the correct identification, although that appears to be open for discussion.

It gets watered daily and has grown longer and branched considerably since I purchased it from Andy at the Massachusetts Orchid Society show. The new branching sections are growing quite well and getting longer, making the plant much heavier than when it was purchased. For that reason, it doesn’t get moved and I made sure to handle it carefully when I was taking these photos.

The flowers are VERY short lived, more so than any other orchid in my collection. I planned to submit it for virtual judging and had to inspect it two or three times daily when it was getting ready to bloom. If it opened on a particular afternoon and I did not see them, the flowers would not be worthy of photos later the next morning. The day before I took these photos none of the flowers were open, and the day after I took these photos they were no longer in bloom. I would love to get it to a judging someday, but for this reason that will be a difficult task.

It was somewhat expensive due to its rarity, and had I known the flowers are open less than 24 hours I probably would not have purchased it. Thankfully, I did not know that when I purchased it, because I am quite happy with this orchid regardless of it’s extremely short flowering period.

Daryl