The White Double Angrek
Wesley Higgins & Peg Alrich
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Phalaenopsis - Fourth Quarter , Vol . 21 ( 2 ) 2011
P halaenopsis amabilis was first discovered on a small island off the east coast of New Guinea by botanist Georgius Everhardus Rumphius in 1653 ; he named it Angraecum ablum majus Rumphius which was published in Herbal Ambonese , 6 : 99 , t43 ( 1750 ). The species was know by several different names ; Angrec Puti besaar in Malay , Angrec colan in Balinese , and Vliegende Duive in Dutch . This species is one of Indonesia ’ s national flowers ( along with Jasminum sambac and Rafflesia arnoldii ).
Georgius Rumphius ( 1627 – 1702 ), lived and worked on the island of Ambon in the Moluccas ( The Spice Islands ) now part of Indonesia . Rumphius had a very afflicted life . He lost his sight in 1672 to glaucoma ( age 42 ). Four years later he lost his first wife and their youngest daughter to an earthquake . In 1687 , his collections of books and all the color illustrations for his life ’ s work , a herbal about the plants of Ambon and the Indies , were lost in a fire . Rumphius was obliged to have everything redrawn by local scribes and a variety of artists . His greatest work was the Herbal ( Het Amboinsche Kruydboek ), consisting of 1,661 folio pages and 695 plates . The Dutch East India Company would not allow the Herbal to be published , concluding that it divulged too much confidential information that would be detrimental to its monopoly in the trade of cloves and nutmeg . When Rumphius died in 1702 nearly forty years would pass before the first volume of Ambonese Herbal was printed . Since the starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus ’ Species Plantarum ( 1753 ), the Rumphius name has no standing . The Linnaean name for the species is Epidendrum amabile L ., Sp . Pl .: 953 ( 1753 ). The species would remained in obscurity until 1825 when Karl Ludwig Blume republished the species and gave it the name by which it is presently known : Phalaenopsis amabilis ( L .) Blume , Bijdragen tot
1 ): Phalaenopsis amabilis , Hort Belge , 5 : 112 ( 1838 ). 2 ): Phalaenopsis amabilis , Fl Serres , 1 : ( 1845 ). 3 ): Phalaenopsis grandiflora , Orchid Album , 6 : 277 ( 1887 ). de Flora van Nederlandsch Indie , 294 ( 1825 ). There are currently three subspecies recognized by World Checklist of Selected Plant Families ( 2011 ): Phalaenopsis amabilis subsp . amabilis .
Phalaenopsis amabilis subsp . moluccana ( Schltr .) Christenson , Phalaenopsis : 189 ( 2001 ). Phalaenopsis amabilis subsp . rosenstromii ( F . M . Bailey ) Christenson , Phalaenopsis : 190 ( 2001 ). The colored plate illustrated on page 18 was published by Blume in Rumphia - sive commentationes botanicae imprimis de plantis Indiae orientalis , volume 4 : ( 1848 ). The other species included in this illustration are Fieldia lissochiloides ( Vandopsis lissochiloides ), Luisia teretifolia ( Luisia tristis ) and Podochilus scalpelliformis .
SYNONYMS : Angraecum album majus Rumphius , Herb . Amb ., 6 : 99 , t43 ( 1750 ).
Epidendrum amabile Linnaeus , Sp . Pl ., 2 : 953 ( 1753 ). Epidendrum amabile Swartz , Nov . Act . Ups ., 6 : 67 ( 1799 ). Epidendrum amabile Schrader ’ s Journ . Bot ., 2 : 210 ( 1799 ). Epidendrum amabile Willdenow , Sp . Pl ., 4 : 115 ( 1805 ).
Epidendrum amabile Persoon , Synopsis Plantarum , 2 : 518 ( 1807 ).
Cymbidium amabile Roxburgh , Hort . Bengal ., 63 ( 1814 ).
Cymbidium amabile Roxburgh , Hort . Bengal ., 63 ; Fl . Ind ., 3 : 457 ( 1814 ).
Phalaenopsis rosenstromii F . M . Bailey , Queensl . Agric . Journ ., 17 : 231 ( 1906 ).
Phalaenopsis gloriosa Rchb . f ., Gard . Chron ., 1 : 554 ( 1888 ).
Phalaenopsis aphrodite var . gloriosa ( Rchb . f .) Veitch , Man . Orch . Pl ., pt . 7 : 25 ( 1891 ).
Phalaenopsis grandiflora Lindl ., Gard . Chron ., 39 ( 1848 ).
Phalaenopsis grandiflora var . gracillima Burb ., The Garden , 22 : 118 ( 1882 ).
Phalaenopsis amabilis var . rimestadiana L . Linden , Lindenia , 16 : 35 , t736 ( 1901 ).
Phalaenopsis amabilis var . fournieri Cogn ., Chron . Orchid ., 166 ( 1898 ).
Phalaenopsis amabilis var . ramosa van Deventer , Orchideeen , 1 : 94 , figs . 1 & 2 ( 1935 ).
Phalaenopsis amabilis var . grandiflora Bateman , Second Cent . Orchid . Pl ., plate 114 ( 1867 ).
Phalaenopsis rimestadiana ( Linden ) Rolfe , Orch . Rev ., 13 : 260 ( 1905 ).
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