Flowering Aerides quinquevulnera

Aerides quinquevulnera sometimes called Aerides quinquevulnerum  is one of the most commonly gathered and grown orchid species in the country. They are among the most beautiful  genus of orchids, many of them uniting every good quality that a plant can possess, viz., rich, evergreen, and regularly curved foliage; a graceful habit, flowers deliciously scented, and of peculiar elegance.

Aerides quinquevulnera

There is a big specimen clump of the orchid at the stall of Mabuhay Orchids during the last orchid show ( August 25 to September 5, 2016) This specimen orchid had over a dozen spikes with hundreds of flowers.

Aerides quinquevulnera exhibited by Purificacion Orchids

The large sized, hot to intermediate growing monopodial epiphyte occurring at elevations of about 250 meters to over 2,000 meters in bright light locations that has lorate, leathery leaves that are apically bilobed and blooms on a densely many flowered, 1 1/2

flowers 

The orchid used to be  classified by botanists as endemic in the Philippines on orchid books written until the early 1990’s,  Until new specimens were discovered in Malaysia, Indonesia and even in Papua New Guinea .

The orchid is normally mistaken for  Aerides odorata , but there are some minute differences on flowers and size. One of easiest way to differentiate the two species is the serration on the side of the mid lobe (lip). Aer. odorata has none to few irregular serrations, where as for Aerides quinquevulnera it has well serrated side of the lip

Aerides quinquevulnera at the commercial stall

In the Philippines, These types of orchids normally are seen growing even in cultivated orchards like mangoes farms or cultivated lowland fields.  These orchids are also commonly sold and branded as fox tail orchids, Vanda strap -leaf orchids among other names with fictitious origin .

Some unscrupulous peddlers or native orchid vendors would insert different types of flowers on the base of the stems and would even re-brand them with different names.

This is one of the first native orchids that we acquired via orchid peddlers and even neighbors coming home from the provinces . They would bring some orchids and they would give us some offshoots .

Aerides quinquevulnera mounted on a living tree

The best way to grow this type of orchid is to mount them on living palm , trees or wooden baskets.  There are newly described varieties of this species . Around the western part of the country , This orchid species blooming season is between late July to mid -October . But in other parts of the country , This orchid species can also bloom during other months .

orchid grown mounted on palm blooming for the second year 

Fertilization and Care

Aerides quinquevulera cannot tolerate full sun for a long period of time , This sepcies can tolerate between 65% to 80% sunlight with light shading . If you have palms or any living trees like mangoes , guavas , duhat , langka within backyard – These are good host trees . A small pack of slow release fertilizer , plus a weekly weakly doze of 20-20-20 water soluble fertilizers will made some wonders. Do not forget to apply once every other week a weak dosage of calcium nitrate and micro-nutrients to boost the growth .

A small amount of moss or pasdak mounted on the roots of the orchid will help retain moisture especially during the summer months.

given proper care and air circulation , small plant can bloom within 1 to 2 years. We grew  Aerides quiquevulnera on palm mounted 8 to 10 feet with some pasdak or moss around the roots . The two dozen or so flowers bloomed few days ago and carpenter bees and local wasps have begun pollination of the flowers.

References:

Philippine Orchids page 38 to 46 , Reg S. Davis and Mona Lisa Steiner 1952 ,1982

Philippine Native Orchid Species ,Cootes 2011

Website: http://www.orchidspecies.com/aerquinquevulneris.htm