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Pollinating Phalaenopsis violacea |
You may already be familiar with this cast of characters, but do you recognize them five months into gestation?
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and five months later |
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Pescatorea lehmannii |
An orchid fruit or "pod" is more correctly called a capsule.
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Promenaea rollisoni |
Notice the remains of the flower at the far end of the capsule.
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Phalaenopsis violacea, Sumatran form |
The information relevant to each cross is recorded in three locations: on a vinyl label, on a paper form and on an Excel spreadsheet accessible on our computer network.
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Laelia purpurata |
A piece of pink flagging tape helps us find the capsule among all the plants in our greenhouses.
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Bollea coelestis |
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Dendrobium dearei |
Compare the size of the swollen ovary of the pollinated flower to that of the adjacent flower.
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Dendrobium uniflorum |
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Pleurothallis titan with open capsule |
An orchid capsule can take anywhere from one to six months or more to ripen. We look forward to seeing these orchids in our lab!