Aerides odorata botanical illustration (originally published as Aerides nobile in Robert Warner, "Select orchidaceous plants", plate 11)
Species Description
Aerides odorata (alternate spelling: Aerides odoratum) is a “good old free-growing species, and one of the most abundant flowering of the genus, having pale green foliage, blooming in June or July, and remaining two or three weeks in good condition. The blossoms are white, shaded with pink, and have a delightful perfume. I have seen specimens five feet high and four feet in diameter, which produced thirty or forty spikes of bloom every year; it is altogether a noble and very useful plant. Native of the East Indies.” (Source: Classic Orchid Grower’s Manual.)
Varieties and Cultivars
Aerides odorata cornutum is a “handsome free-flowering variety from India, distinct in growth from the former; spikes about twelve inches long, furnished with pink and white-coloured flowers, which are produced in May, June, and July, and continue upwards of three weeks in bloom. (Source: Classic Orchid Grower’s Manual.)
Aerides odorata majus is “like Aerides odoratum in growth, and differing only in the larger and longer spikes of flowers. This makes a fine exhibition plant, and may be retarded very easily without the slightest injury.” (Source: Classic Orchid Grower’s Manual.)
Aerides odorata purpurascens “is a somewhat scarce variety, and one of the very best; it is robust in habit, with broad dark green leaves. It is a free bloomer, producing a long massive spike of large flowers, which are white tipped with bright pink.” (Source: Classic Orchid Grower’s Manual.)
Aerides odorata rubrum is a “very nice cool-house species, with dark green foliage; a very distinct plant, not so showy as many of the preceding ones, but well worth growing; indeed, any one that can appreciate Saccolabium ampullaceum would like this, the colour being similar and the spikes longer. Native of the Madras hills.” Formerly known as Aerides rubrum, it is now considered to be a synonym of Aerides odorata.
Aerides odorata suavissimum is a “distinct and desirable species of free growth, having light green foliage ten inches long, spotted with brown. The sepals and petals are white, and the lip has a blotch of yellow in the centre edged with white. Blooms in July, August, and September, and lasts in good condition three weeks. I have flowered several varieties of this species, some of which were much better than others.” Another related variety is Aerides suavissimum maculatum which was described by B.S. Williams as a “very handsome form of the preceding; the sepals and petals are white, profusely spotted with pink, so also is the lip. It bloomed very freely in the collection of the late Thomas Dawson, Esq., of Meadow Bank.” These varieties was formerly known as Aerides suavissimum but is now considered to be a synonym or Aerides odorata.
Botanical illustration of aerides odorata from Xenia Orchidacea.
Synonyms
- Aerides nobile
- Aerides suavissimum
- Aerides rubrum
- Aerides suavissimum maculatum
Publications
- Classic Orchid Grower’s Manual
- Robert Warner, “Select orchidaceous plants”, plate 11
- “Xenia Orchidacea” vol. 2 tab. 104