Panisea uniflora
6th August 2022
Panisea uniflora is a small epiphytic orchid with as natural range that encompasses the the Himalayas, from Nepal and India through to China as well as
Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. It attracted my attention because it is recorded as growing at altitudes up to 2,300m so there is a chance that it would experience
significant cold temperatures occasionally.
I was able to buy a plant from Orchid Botnics during the summer. Ideally I would have bought it in early spring so that it had a full growing season to establish but it is
not a common plant in cultivation, I had to take the opportunity when it arose. The plant made matters more complicated by producing a flower immediately which will have diverted
resources from new root growth.
At the start December 2022 we had a very sudden and very severe radiation frost over a couple of nights. If there had been a warning
then I would have covered it over, but the cold arrived unexpetedly and affected the orchid house badly. Panisea uniflora was one of the plants that turned brown overnight and has not recovered.
It is unfortunate, because I still think that the species has potential in my cold greenhouse. I am not sure where this clone was originally collected, an origin in the Chinese Himalayas
would be more likely to resist cold than one from lowland Thailand or Vietnam.