Selected Species - by Peter Taylor

Gastrochilus bellinus

The generic name Gastrochilus is derived from the Greek "gaster" (belly) and "cheilos" (lip) and refers to the shape of the lip of this handsome species which was discovered in Burma by Boxall in 1873. At that time, however, it was introduced to the world by the great orchid firm of Low and Co. as Saccolabium bellinum and it was much admired under that name until O. Kuntze transferred it to Gastrochilus in 1891.

Its earlier name, Saccolabium, is derived from "saccus" (a bag) and "labium" (a lip). The lip of the species has, to my mind, many more charms than that of simply a belly or a bag and is one of the striking features of this desirable plant as the accompanying photograph indicates.

Veitch, writing in 1887, mentions that "Botanically it much resembles a large state of Saccolabium calceolare, the type of the section". I find that there are some superficial colour similarities between the two species but Gastrochilus bellinus is by far the more striking species and qualifies, for a few reasons, as one of my favourite "selected species".

I had grown a few Gastrochilus species (G. dasypogon, G. japonicus etc) over the years but had never seen G. bellinus until Jack Jannese showed me his plant which he gave the clonal name of 'Evelyn'. It was in full flower, about 10 and with its deep chocolate, pink yellow and white flowers was a wonderful display.

When Jack's collection of species was sadly sold I was lucky to acquire the plant which, by that time, was just two growths. I gave one growth to Mike Hynes, one of the best growers of a diverse collection of species in Sydney. My growth went into a decline and, within a couple of months, died. Mike grew his wonderfully well and eventually I was able to reintroduce the species to my glasshouse. The photograph is of my first flowering in 1996. I now, touch wood, grow Gastrochilus bellinus, quite well.

I guess that the point of the above is to cherish plants obtained from a dear friend and, to ensure plant survival, give a division of a quality species to a friend - he may grow it better than you!

Alex Hawkes in the Encyclopaedia of Cultivated Orchids (1970) gives an effective brief description of the genus Gastrochilus - "They are usually rather dwarf monopodial plants with but a few leathery leaves and produce few-flowered inflorescences (often more than one per node at a given season) of small to rather large, often spectacular flowers". The genus is characterised by the very short, stout column and the lip sides are firmly adnate to the column. There are two pollinia on a long narrow stripe.

Gastrochilus bellinus, from Burma and Thailand, has a short inflorescence and the flowers nestle close to the base of the leaves. Because of this and also because I find the roots intolerant of being confined in a pot (they really enjoy rambling over a hard bark or cork slab), the species better displays its charms when mounted on suitable material.

The 'Evelyn' clone, pictured with this article, has large flowers, about 2.5cm across. The sepals and petals are green, heavily spotted with dark chocolate-purple. The lip is white, spotted red-purple with a lovely contrasting yellow disc. It is an interesting, striking combination of colour and is a real eye-catcher in much the same way that a good clone of Cattleya aclandiae, of similar hues, immediately grabs one's attention.

My initial, fateful experience with Gastrochilus bellinus I put down to my attempt to grow the species in a pot. I noted the strong, fleshy roots and tried a very coarse bark mix in a plastic pot. Disaster! On getting my "return" piece from Mike Hynes I tried mounting it on a slab of fibrous board marketed some years ago, I think, under the name Mayan board (I may have the name incorrect). To my delight the plant thrived. The roots quickly rambled over the mount and the species is now growing strongly.

It appears happy enough with my winter minimum of 12^OC but I note that Mike's plant, now of multiple growths, has a much higher winter minimum and very high humidity. So I guess that Gastrochilus bellinus could be described as an intermediate to warm growers. In my glasshouse, which has very good air movement, I find it necessary to mist the plant twice a day in summer and I "dunk" it twice a week in a bucket which contains rather high nitrogen fertiliser.

Gastrochilus bellinus is a space efficient plant of fairly accommodating cultural requirements. Its flowers are the "best" of the genus and I believe it should be on the want-list for all species enthusiasts. Unfortunately, plants seem few and far between and I have not seen commercially advertised seedlings. Perhaps we can remedy this over the next few years.

© Peter Taylor and Australian Orchid Council Inc 2002

Originally published in "Orchids Australia" December 2002.