The helmet orchid theft

[kuching]

It was a beautiful Saturday morning. I climbed up to a limestone hill to check the helmet orchid (Corybas crenulatus) whether it is flowering or not. When I reached the site, I almost wanted to say "Fxxk !!!" .....because the irresponsible commercial collector came there and collected all the helmet orchids except 5 small plants which are covered by leaf litter.

I really mad and wanted to curse that people who only think of money, but do not care for the flora of Borneo. There were hundreds of helmet orchid in that area before....but today, I only found 5 from that spot until the summit.


The limestone hill forest of Borneo:






A clump of helmet orchid is gone....together with the mosses!!!





Helmet orchid, (Corybas crenulatus) This is one of the 5 plants left on the site....oh no!!!

[kuching]

Most of the orchids which got commercial value are gone....all collected by those commercial collectors. Below are photos of some wild orchids found on this trip. Some of them are never seen before.



Bulbophyllum reticulum





A very small Bulbophyllum with tiny red flower:







Jewel orchid, Dossinia marmorata.






Flickingeria sp.





Side view of the flower of Flickingeria sp.

[kuching]

Flickingeria sp.





The flower bud of Flickingeria sp.







Malaxis sp.






Close-up of Malaxis sp.





This Malaxis sp. is going to bloom soon.

[kuching]

Malaxis metallica





Unidentified species of orchid; species A:





Same species as above:




The leaves; species A:





Same species as above:

[jwuog]

Hi Kuching, I don't know how you feel about this –

This is how to deal with irresponsible harvestors (people that are short sighted without giving thought to long term effects like for example,
when is their next helmet orchid coming from).

Why don't you set a "bear trap" of some sort? That will teach them
a lesson

[kuching]

Unidentified species of orchid; species B:





Close-up of the tiny flower of species B:




Unidentified species of orchid; species C:





Species C has orange coloured bracts:





Close-up of the bract:

[kuching]

Hi Kuching, I don't know how you feel about this –

This is how to deal with irresponsible harvestors (people that are short sighted without giving thought to long term effects like for example,
when is their next helmet orchid coming from).

Why don't you set a "bear trap" of some sort? That will teach them
a lesson

It's ok. Still got a lot of this orchid in other locations....which are less accessible than this one that I just visited.

[kuching]

Unidentified species of orchid; species D which looks a bit like Paphiopedilum but the inflorescence is very small (dried one):





Unidentified species of orchid; species E.






Seed pods of a species of Phalaenopsis:





The inflorescence of a species of terrestrial orchid, Plocoglotis sp.





Close-up of the gorgeous flower of Plocoglotis sp.






The leaves of Plocoglotis sp.

[kuching]

Slipper orchid, most probably is Paphiopedilum bullenianum.




Same species as above;

[kuching]

Natural cross hybrid, Nepenthes x cincta; the pitcher is almost white coloured:




Nepenthes x cincta: the plant.






Upper pitcher of Nepenthes x cincta:






Rhododendron javanicum var. brookeanum:




Close-up picture of the flower of Rhododendron javanicum var. brookeanum:

[kuching]

The flowers of unidentified species of a scrub:





Another species of scrub with beautiful flowrs:





Close-up of the flowers:





The fossils of ancient snail. (Note: this limestone hill was used to be a coral reef in ancient time of Borneo)





Raining again! I thought I can reach the base before the rain....but I was wrong.





THE END.

[BFG]

OT!

I didn't know there was such a species as Malaxis Metallica......

[kuching]

OT!

I didn't know there was such a species as Malaxis Metallica......

Yup, check this out :

http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/pub...is/Malaxis.htm

[Shaihulud]

i enjoy the record of your various expedition tp Borneo, makes me more aware of its diversities and beauty. It also saddens me when you discover something being destroyed.

[kuching]

i enjoy the record of your various expedition tp Borneo, makes me more aware of its diversities and beauty. It also saddens me when you discover something being destroyed.

yup...destruction is almost everywhere & anytime.....but most of the people on this earth do not aware of that because not many "freak" like me always hanging around in the jungle or river to look for flora & fauna.

[BFG]

Do you know who the person who named the flower, malaxis metallica?He/She could have been a Metallica fan!

www.metallica.com

[kuching]

Do you know who the person who named the flower, malaxis metallica?He/She could have been a Metallica fan!

www.metallica.com

It means something in Latin but I don't know the meaning. It is nothing to do with the band.