Is This a Den ?

[Anton]

While walking down the street during my lunch hour at work today I came across this plant in the flower shop where I usually buy my orchids.

The owner doesn't know what it is, it is her personal plant and she keeps it in the shop to keep an eye on it, so I told her I would contact my "repository" and wealth of information services, namely this forum to find out what it is.

It is approximately 1.6 metres high (roughly 4 feet) and as can be seen has a multitude of roots coming from it. Are these keiki or just air roots, and finally does anything need to be done about them ?

Excuse the quality of images, I took them on my cell phone just as a huge electrical storm hit cutting the ambient light right back, and the flash wasn't strong enough to compensate for the loss of light and tended to focus out in the street which was lighter than the shop.

[pikespeak62]

it's a reed stem epidendrum

[Anton]

Thanks for the name, now what about that proliferation of roots ?

Are they keiki, or just air roots ?

[arleneg]

Since it's difficult to tell due to the quality of the pics, they look like air roots.

This looks like the Epi at that flower shop:
http://www.orchidspecies.com/episecundum.htm

[Anton]

It is close Arlene, but being in Australia it may be a crossed hybrid that resides up in Queesnland from what a friend told me today.

I'll get back when I have more details.

Now, all I have to do is read up on Epidendrums.

I don't have any knowledge of them at present.

[SwTLaDYy16]

From the picture, it looks like Epidendrum Radicans. I have the same exact orchid in my collection. They're very easy to care for and are prolific growers. The top roots look like air roots, however, it looks like there's a keiki growth on the side. You may wanna separate that part and pot it off individually.

[Daniel S. Barrett]

it's definately a reed epidendrum, I sold one exactly like it last summer. they're offered constantly on eBay, & come in a about 10 colors now, they're real sun lovers. and in the country where they come from they're so abundant they're considered weeds! very fast growers they put out Alot of air roots & KIKIS!

[Daniel S. Barrett]

swtlady is right, it's correct name is epidendrum radicans, also refered to as a "reed epidendrum", or just "reed orchid"

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

These grow like weeds in Southern California too, if watered well. There are a number of species of reedstemmed epis, and you can look up elongatum, ibaquense , cinnabarinum,and a number of others in addition to radicans, but I think it is only radicans, and one other that is sometimes considered a synonym of radicans, that have prolofic roots up and down the cane. But since a hybrid using radicans will also probably have a number of roots on the reed sides, you can't rule out it being a hybrid. However, most of these reedstemmed Epis around are not named, and are just labeled with their color.

These also reproduce so well, and are passed around from person to person addinfinatum so much, that the chances of virus are very high in any that are not known to be recently from seed. Since these are mostly used as garden plants, the viral status is not usually considered important, as with the Santa Barbara Orchid Estates noting that they don't guarantee their RS Epis are free from virus. So, keep this outside, away from your other plants, and alway use proper sanitary practices between this plant and your other orchids.

I have always been a collector of these plants, and when I cleaned out my collection of the virused plants, I started replacing the RS Epis with the hybrids from Cal Orchids, and a few other growers that have bigger flowers, wonderful new colors, and generally grow a little shorter. Also, radicans has been avoided in the parentage, and they don't usually have all the roots everywhere.

[Anton]

The plant I photographed isn't mine, but I was given a keiki off of it and wanted to know what the plant was and how to care for it.

I enquired about the roots because the owner of the plant doesn't know about keikis and air roots, so I thought that I would enquire on her behalf.

So, is it best just o leave them ?

Thanks everyone for the comments, if needbe, I can go back there with my digital camera this time and rephotograph it for more detail if anyone wants closer detail.

[agarrat]

I used to have this epidendrum. Its one of the few orchid i grew that can take direct sunlight for most of the day

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

These can take a lot of water. I grow them in small bark or my special mix, and they generally get water every other day or more. The can take very high light or moderate light, but be aware that the height of the plants before blooming is inversely proportional to the amount of light they get. So try for very high light. They probably can grow outdoors for you. They have been able to take a small amount of frost, and high summer heat. These are truely the weed of the orchid world, and are difficult to kill.