Thursday, January 28, 2010

Warren's House Virtual Tour

This is a virtual tour of fellow rare fruit enthusiast Warren Condon's yard. I was there in November and I took these photos of his yard and the various tropical fruits he grows. Warren has been a mentor to me with school and rare fruits. He has been the source for many of the rare species in my fruit collection and is also member of Miami Rare Fruit Council International and the Friends of the Fruit and Spice Park. So let me give you a virtual tour of his beautiful Kendall yard,


Theobroma grandiflorum - Cupuaçu

No ID ornamental with a very unusual seedpod

Bunchosia argentea - Peanut Butter Fruit, Flowers

No ID ornamental

Eugenia aggregata - Cherry of the Rio Grande, Tree

Eugenia aggregata - Cherry of the Rio Grande, Trunk

Musa acuminata - "AeAe" Banana

Pimenta dioica - Allspice

Aechmea blanchetiana?

Guaiacum officinale - Lignum vitae "wood of life"

No ID ornamental

Vanilla  planifolia - Vanilla

Theobroma cacao - Chocolate "Red pod"?


Garcinia intermedia - Lemon Drop Mangosteen

Hylocereus undatus - Red Pitaya "Pink Polinator"


Musa acuminata - "Dwarf Cuban Green"

Hylocereus polyrhizus

Dovyalis caffra - Kei-apple

Bambusa oldhamii w/Ananas sp.


Bouea macrophylla - Maprang

As you can see Warren has an extensive collection of exotic fruits and rare ornamental plants. I wanted to add that these pictures were taken in November which is after our main fruiting season. I plan to go back in spring, sample more fruits and take more photos of his amazing yard.


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Warren's House Virtual Tour by Eric Bronson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.flickr.com

Friday, January 22, 2010

Bulbophyllum longiflorum









This is one of my more unusual species orchids I grow. One of my favorite genera of orchids to collect is Bulbophyllum and with nearly 3000 species it is one of the largest in the orchid family. I've managed to accumulate a dozen or so species so far. This particular species has a widespread natural range but during my research for this post I've found that it is threatened, vulnerable or endangered in the areas where it is native.(1)(2) They inhabit rain forests from sea level up to 5300 feet. It has pseudobulbs up to 1 3/4" long and spaced about 2" apart on the rhizome which is creeping. The single leaf can be up to 6" long.The inflorescence is up to 8" long and can bear six to eight flowers that form a semi-circle at the end.(3) The flowers have a unpleasant smell to put it mildly. This grows outside since it is a large species (and the smell). I do pamper this a bit with extra water all year to imitate the moist conditions it is native to.

Family: Orchidaceae •
Genus: Bulbophyllum •
Species: longiflorum (Thouars 1822)
Country of Origin: Africa, Tropical Asia, Australasia, Pacific Islands •
Common Names: N/A •

(1)http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?8127
(2)http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=9227
(3)Botanicas Orchids 2002

Creative Commons License
Bulbophyllum longiflorum by Eric Bronson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.flickr.com