Miltonia / Miltoniopsis

[bunn]

I originally bought my one non-phalenopsis orchid labelled as 'miltonia'. Someone later told me it should have been miltoniopsis, and that's what I'd been calling it, as it just had a handwritten label spiked into the pot.

I have been doing some research, and have found that the miltoniopsis orchids were until relatively recently included under the name 'miltonia'. Many websites still give cultural instructions that purport to cover both types of orchid.

This seems to be wrong. Miltonia orchids, according to this site: http://www.orchidlady.com/encyclopedia/m.html are from Brazil and Columbia, and according to http://www.orchideeeninfo.com/ukverzorging.php require a cool, relatively dry environment. I'm fairly sure this is what I've got, as it's thriving on a sunny Cornish windowsill and is now even putting out buds!

Miltoniopsis orchids are from Costa Rica and Peru, live in cloud forest, are much more delicate souls than Miltonias: they like it wet, they don't like full sun, they like it warm and cannot cope with draughts.

I'm fairly sure that there are probably cultural differences at the species level, but it looks like Miltonias have been hybridised to the point where if you don't have details of their preferred lifestyle from their creator, you just have to guess. Bummeroonie.

Most of the orchid resources say that both miltonias and miltoniopsis require low light levels, but from the perspective of the UK, our light levels are pretty much always 'low' even in full sun. I may move Mme Miltonia onto an inside shelf for midsummer, but most of the year the low sun here is unlikely to burn her.

Annoying things
It's annoying that botanists change the genus of plants so often, so that it's really hard to look up relevant info on culture because you don't know if your resource is using the new genus names or the old ones.

It's annoying that gardeners don't update their resources, stick to the old names, and give advice that assumes that all members of a genus require similar conditions. It's also annoying that discussions about the differences focus on things like 'and miltoniopsis looks more pansy-shaped'. MORE PANSY SHAPED? What does that MEAN??? Pansies don't look like orchids: wrong colour, for one thing. And what about a description of the LEAVES??? Grrrr.

It's also annoying that people write things like 'low light' and 'cool' without specifying whether they are in California or Dundee.

It's very annoying that garden centres assume you are going to kill the damn thing in a week anyway, and don't usually care about the correct culture or derivation of the plants, so you usually can't trust anything they tell you.

However, it's excellent that the thing has buds on. Hurray!

Comments

[chainmailmaiden]

The changing of genus names is very annoying, when i had to know that kind of thing I'd learn the relevant ones then find out my book was out of date and have to re-learn a load of new ones. Grrr!

I agree it would also be easier if they specified temperatures and specific amounts of light rather than using terms like 'cool'. Bacchus would certainly agree with you there too.

I suggest you reclassify your plant a 'Whateveritis' and go with what it seems to cope with. Glad to hear it's got buds, I'm currently watching in anticipation to see what colour the Amaryllis, my Mum gave me for Christmas, ends up being. It has 2 buds and is growing about an inch a day at the moment, it's highly exciting!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Amaryllis are very exciting, the way they zoom up and suddenly erupt into an explosion of flower.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

thinking on, isn't that another confusingly named one? I think it's Hippeastrum really... Still, I knew what you meant that's the main thing!

[chainmailmaiden]

Yes that's it's proper name, but I've never met anyone who referred to them as that rather than as an Amaryllis. I can remember talking to someone once about Meadowsweet and they kept on giving me a pitying look and calling it Filipendula. I know there are different plants that get called Meadowsweet but we both knew which we were talking about, so I failed to see why they felt they had to be so precise.