Florida Native Orchids: another species to search for in the Evergaldes?

[mremensnyder]

Good evening,

It has been quite a while since I've posted. I really enjoy growing native orchids as well as more challenging ones from cool to warm growing I may have discussed on here before that one of my primary collecting goals is to eventually collect every epiphytic orchid species native (or introduced/ questionable in origin) to the state of FL. Through eBay and some other online orchid vendors I have all but 10 or so of the orchids on the list. This number will be 7-8 once I add Encyclia boothiana and Ionopsis uticularoides in the next month or two.

I also generally collect leafless orchids, three of which overlap with the FL native species list. I have managed to purchase all three of these and my collection is doing well overall over the past year, with a few failures along the way. My leafless collection includes Taeniophyllum obtusum barely hanging on as three seedlings attached to a cedar shingle. I think at least one is growing and will survive. I also have a Taeniophyllum biocellatum var. hainense on an identical mount that is doing quite well, in addition to my Microcoelia exilis, which has thrived in my care for about a year now. My Dendro. lindenii from Orchids Limited has been attached to a large, thick piece of live oak bark and seems to like its home with the others in an extra large Tupperware tub with the others, though in the past year, its circumference has not increased much. These are slow! I was extremely excited to finally find a Campylocentrum pacchyrrhizum online, a small plant now also on a live oak bark mount. My Dendro. funalis is much larger and has been seemingly dormant for months now, though I anticipate growth with begin with summer heat and rain.

Some of my newer acquisitions include Maxillaria crassifolia and M. parviflora, several epidendrums native to FL, including E. rigida, E. amphistomum, E. floridense and E. nocturnum. Also in my collection are Encyclia pygmaea, E. cochleata, Brassia caudata, Bulb. pacchyrachis, Pleuro. gelida and both Trichocentrum cathagenense and T. undulatum. I need to replace my Macradenia lutescens, as I lost it to fungus late last fall). There are a few others as well. (pics to follow tomorrow). The toughest to find will of course be Epi. acunae, Lepanthopsis melanantha, and Epi. stobiliferum. Haven't ever seen these for sale, but they are native to other areas of tropical America, so eventually they may show up in cultivation.

Does anybody else have a collection of FL natives to share? Has anybody actually completed such a collection?

I also wanted to mention Restrepiella ophiocephala, a pleurothallid that is mentioned as occurring in S. FL by several sources online. I first noticed this in a 1985 article mentioning Florida's 3 pleurothallid species. Sure, enough orchidspecies.com and wiki name this as a FL native. Yet, I never read about this species among those searched for (specifically OrchidBoard) during trips to the Fakahatchee or other wilds of S. FL. Maybe this is yet another species to locate and further document as a FL native, for conservation efforts?

I forgot to add Leochilus labiatus as a possible species lurking deep in the Everglades (as eluded to in a response to a previous thread). Thoughts on this one?