Aerangis gravenreuthii

hi folks, a brief question - does gravenreuthii exist anywhere in the States? There´s no source of that within Europe (anymore).
with best regards
Matthias

 

that´s sad - we had 2 plants, out-sourced them and what returned some years later has been a deep regret ...

 

sorry my answer will be posted in delay but I am writing from Europe. Anyway. I once had a nice orchid-collection but then focussed on the propagation only and we spread the plants among Europe. Not by selling them but just to make sure they will survive and keep on serving us as plants for the propagation. Gravenreuthii has been among them and it regrettably went lost, like bouarensis, alcicornis and maireae. But it could have happened myself, too, so there´s no one to blame. I am still convinced that sharing and distributing seedlings by keeping in mind to where they have gone in order to receive material back when it´s necessary & important again makes sense. I don´t think having a green thumb but I am skilled in propagating orchids and so I carry on doing this.

 

Reyna, Isobyl is a good friend of us. But friendship hasn´t been fundamental enough to prevent her from giving her entire collection to the Botanical Garden of Glasgow. She regrets it, we do as well, but it´s ok, we are crossing mails regularly. I would have went straight by foot to Gairloch/Scotland just to fetch the plants. The curator who got it is David Menzies who didn´t even reply my mails and enquiries for any pollinia. My contact to the Kews are split since Joyce has passed on who always has helped us readily. I am in contact with Joan Hermans but it got clear to me more and more ... what Kews has in its claws is taken off for good. Begged on my knees for a pollen (!) for our Aerangis confusa, I didn´t ask for a plant or for seed, just a pollen which does no harm to the plant. We only own one confusa, it looks well, is sprouting nicely but it can´t be self-ed. By the way, your plant you think of being confusa is none, alas. Kew freezes seeds for the eternity but to my mind the optimal place for a seed is upon a suitable medium and not deep inside a bunker waiting for any aliens to arrive.
What MrBreeze did years ago was sending us seeds of Ancistrochilus thomsonianus. Seedlings are ready for deflask now and these plants will be shared for free among our African plant-centres and Botanical Gardens. There´s no need to gain profit from plants which are endangered.

 

I suppose we all try our best.
We have propagated Arangis hologlottis, Sri-Lanka-typus ... but which worked by tissue-culture only and by a bacterium named methylobacterium extorquens. It´s an anaerob bacterium producing Selen and dies off under the treatment of H202 and dryness, so does no harm. This bact. helps us in tissue-culture for some precious plants we cannot simply cut into several pieces.

Is there any need/desire in America for that species? We can care for a Phyto done in our home and it´s not about the costs but Marni already knows how difficult and risky it is to send material to America from Austria. Anyway, there should be a solution ...

 

yes - this would interest me, too. We needed just a spike to care for a tissue-culture what is both expensive and essential. NO COMMERCE IN PLAN !