Quote: >As for scents in orchids I have found that it depends on the time of day or >night when the orchid releases to scent. This is probably at the time the >insect pollinator is about.
I don't know if this fits with anyone else's experience, but I find that watering triggers an immediate small burst of scent, and fertilizer a prolonged and large one. This is particularly true of Dendrochilums. One other scent issue which has always puzzled me is that many wild epiphytic orchids have a shared sharp, unpleasantly resinous odour, notably when the roots are damaged. (One of the scents of my childhood in Africa, in fact. I was bitten early by the bug: first collection assembled on horseback in the veld, at 5 years old.) One never finds this smell in cultivated plants. I assume it deters aerial browsers - monkeys, for example - and as these are in short supply in glass houses, they sense this (how?) and don't bother. ______________________________ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)20 7736 9716 www.chforum.org _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
