Slug:/Papuan-black-orchid
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The articles writing that West Papua has an endemic orchid are plenty, making people more eager to see the rare beauty in the flesh. Let’s find out!
If you are one of the orchid lovers, there is a high chance you have ever heard about Papuan Black Orchid. When typing the keyword in the search engine, you will get a lot of information. But, that information usually does not include its location, height, and scientific name. It may suggest that the information is invalid. So, in this article, you will get the answer and learn more about it.
Why Are Many People Crazy About It?
The information about this exotic flower is about how it is on the brink of extinction, grown in the depth of the West Papua forest, the difficulties in the cultivation process outside the area, and the process of acquiring it. This rarity and difficulty draw so much attention from rare flower seekers.
Another feature that makes people get more and more interested in this flower is its price. A single black orchid is worth 100 million rupiahs. Imagine how rich you will be if you can sell, let’s say, three flowers. It will indeed make all businessmen and collectors go crazy. Still, this won’t make you suddenly become crazy rich, though.
One opportunity in starting this business is that there is no room for cultivation to cause an economic bubble. If you can wait a little longer, I cannot imagine what will happen. Nevertheless, don’t expect too much as there is no guarantee that all information is valid.
When seeing the flower in the photograph, the price is acceptable. Thanks to its rarity in nature, it can always make anything skyrocket. Plus, it’s scarce to see a black orchid with white labellum. And the center of the labellum is painted in a yellow and black spot. Some red dots along the edge and a black spot at the tip also describe its grandeur. Everyone will agree that this flower offers beautiful yet majestic quality. It looks like a plant that the blessed nature of Papua will have.
As this flower also offers a great promise, you should dig deep to confirm the information before deciding to purchase it. It would be best to listen to your parents that haste makes waste this time.
When looking for some information on this flower from international journals, no single journal or article discusses this flower. All information is generally about the Black Orchid endemic to Kalimantan, Coelogyne pandurate. Besides, the orchid internationally known endemic to West Papua is the Black Blood-Red Dendrobium which suggests that its color is not black.
When asking some orchid enthusiasts and researchers, none of them coveys ever to get the chance to see the flower in question. Seeing the flower is important to ensure its validity rather than just seeing it from a photograph. This dead-end leaves a big question of whether such a flower ever exists or not.
Also read: A New Species of Orchid from West Papua
What Is the Black Orchid Endemic to West Papua?
If you want to know the truth, you need to join a Conference related to plants, at least once. There will be a lot of information about the flower at the conference. If there is none, you can benefit from asking the speakers related to your questions. Just make sure that they know a lot about the topic.
In this case, Eduard de Volge and Andre Schuiteman were the saviors. They are the experts you are all looking and waiting for. Their expertise has been going for 40 years by researching various orchids in Southeast Asia. They have also described hundreds of types of orchids endemic to New Guinea. Thus, they are eligible to be reliable sources in this journey.
When asked about the information of Papuan Black Orchid, they claimed to be not familiar with it. They further stated that the only black orchid they knew growing in the country was endemic to Kalimantan. It feels like another dead end, but you cannot stop right there. The articles writing that Papua has an endemic orchid are many. So, the answer must be out there.
After a little push, there came the answer. When they saw the photograph, they conveyed that the flower in question was a hybrid. Shocked? Me, too. Imagine what will happen if you don’t listen to your parents. Moreover, the information was valid. The validity was confirmed after cross-checking with a lecturer from Universitas Negeri Papua, an orchid enthusiast.
The actual name of the flower is Cymbidium Kiwi Midnight “Geyserland.” The hybrid used to be popular around 2001 to 2015. It is a hybrid of Cymbidium Janet Holland and Cymbidium Khairpour. Cymbidium is an orchid species endemic to the United States. And the flower in question is the creation of orchid cultivation expert Andy Easton.
So, without further ado, let’s wrap up this article and conclude that the articles writing that the orchid in question is endemic to West Papua are hoaxes. But, let’s not blindly judge the writers. The local people themselves frequently claim the black orchid they found was endemic to the region. They are Coelogyne beccarii Rchb.f., Grammatophyllum stapeliiflorum (Teijsm. & Binn.) J.J.Sm., and Renanthera caloptera (Rchb.f.) Kocyan & Schuit.
Also read: Plants That Can Only be Found in Papua
Hope you find this article useful.