Phalaenopsis sumatrana
Phalaenopsis sumatrana is also another species with a wide
international distribution and has been recorded from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular of Malaysia and Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo). In the Philippines it is only known
from the southwestern island of Palawan. It grows as an epiphyte at elevations up to 700 meters. This species is also variable in its coloration.
Pieter W. Korthals (1807-1892) and Heinrich G. Reichenbach (1824-1889) named this species in the journal Hamburger Garten-Blumenzeitung, 1860. The specific epithet refers to
the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where the first specimens
were collected.
14
Phalaenopsis | First Quarter | Volume 24 | 2014
Phalaenopsis amabilis
Phalaenopsis amabilis is the next in line, as far as international distribution is concerned. It has been found in the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi and Maluku
(Moluccas). When taken in a broader sense, this beautiful
species is also found in New Guinea and northeastern Australia (however, we are of the opinion that the Australian species, Phalaenopsis rosenstromii, is distinct from Phalaenopsis
amabilis).
In the Philippines it is known from the southwestern island
of Palawan, as well as the Tawi-Tawi islands in the Sulu Archipelago. It usually grows as an epiphyte, but has been known to
occur on mossy rocks, at elevations up to 1,500 meters.
Carolus Linnaeus first named this magnificent species in
1753 as Epidendrum amabile. Then in 1814, William Roxburgh (1751-1815) transferred it to the genus Cymbidium! It
was