Publications
The Garden
March 2004
Black orchids: myth or reality?
Long a holy grail for plant hunters and hybridisers alike, black-flowered orchids exert an almost mystical appeal. Isobyl la Croix sheds light on the species and cultivars that have come the closest to pure black… so far
Part of the appeal of orchids is the range of flower colour available: the whole spectrum from brilliant red to blue and violet, and of course white. Black flowers are rare and prized whatever the plant, but the powerful allure of the mythical black orchid seems linked to the aura of exotic mystery that still surrounds orchids in general, despite the easy availability of modern hybrids.
Is the black orchid a myth? Some orchid species do have parts of the flower that could be described as black. Encyclia cochleata, the national flower of Belize, is known locally as the ‘black orchid’, but only the lip can lay any claim to being black: its long, slender sepals and petals are yellow-green. Easy to grow, this orchid was one of the first tropical species grown successfully in Britain; a plant is recorded to have flowered at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1763.
A much more rare species, only recently described, has a claim to being called truly black. American botanist Eric Christenson described Telipogon portillae from Ecuador in the July/August 2003 issue of The Orchid Review. Indisputably black it may be, but only in the centre of the flower. Overall it is brownish, margined with yellow, and with a black, hairy callus on the lip - striking but not pure black. Telipogon are from high altitudes, and notoriously difficult to grow.
It is hardly surprising that black or near-black flowers rarely occur in the wild; if the purpose of colour is to attract pollinators, black scarcely catches the eye, either of humans or insects. Species of Dracula are thought to be pollinated by fungus gnats, which seemingly are not attracted by bright colours, and there are several species with flowers that are nearly black.
In Dracula vampira, the base colour of the flowers is yellowish green, but so heavily veined with purple-black that they look extremely dark; D. roezlii is even darker. In most species of Dracula, the flowers hang, and viewed from below, the small, round petals look like eyes set either side of the nose-like column, resembling a weird, bat-like face.
Dracula tend to smell quite sweetly, but the same cannot be said about some species of Bulbophyllum, such as B. dayanum from southeast Asia and B. fletcherianum from Papua New Guinea. These have dark red-brown flowers, producing an odour that can empty a glasshouse. Fortunately the species with flowers that are closest to black, B. lemniscatum (also from southeast Asia) does not have a strong smell. The flowers are in dense, pendent heads and the purple-black sepals are covered with bristly white hairs.
The epithets nigra and nigrescens should be good indicators of a black flower, but this can be misleading. Polystachya transvaalensis (now a synonym of P. nigrescens) received its name because pressed and dried herbarium specimens turned black. Liparis nigra, a terrestrial orchid, is not too wide of the mark, although its flowers are the darkest red rather than black. From closer to home, the flowers of British native Ophrys insectifera (fly orchid) have deep violet-black lips.
‘Black’ hybrids
Perhaps it is to hybrid orchids that we should look for the definitive ‘black orchid’ and, in particular, to Asiatic Paphiopedilum (slipper orchids). These include many fine so-called vinicolour hybrids with dark, wine-red or deep maroon flowers, but true blacks remain elusive. Perhaps the darkest so far bred is Paphiopedilum Gaulois ‘Grandee’.
Probably the most widely grown orchids today are Phalaenopsis (moth orchid) hybrids. White and pale pink are the most often seen, but ‘blacks’ also exist. Strictly speaking these are not Phalaenopsis but xDoritaenopsis, intergeneric hybrids between Phalaenopsis and closely related Doritis. Of these, xDoritaenopsis Black Butterfly, registered as recently as 1998, includes several cultivars with flowers such a deep purple they look almost black.
Solidly black orchids remain a myth, although they may lurk undiscovered in a tropical jungle, and hybridisers of various genera may yet achieve their goal. In the meantime, given imagination and some poetic licence, several near-blacks are already there to be grown and enjoyed.
Isobyl la Croix is editor of The Orchid Review
The London Orchid Show will be held in the Lindley and Lawrence Halls, Westminster on March 13 - 14. Admission: £3 for RHS members, £5 for non-members.
The Orchid Review is the Society’s bimonthly journal for orchid enthusiasts. Subscriptions start at £25. Tel: 01303 813803 or see: www.rhs.org.uk/orchidreview