The first Galeandra devoniana we spotted!

I recently traveled to the Amazon jungle as part of an Orchid Conservation Alliance (OCA) Orchids in the Wild Tour. From Manaus, Brazil we boarded a boat named The Otter and spent 12 days looking for orchids and other wildlife along the flooded Rio Negro River, a tributary of the Amazon. Some consider it the “upper Amazon”, while others insist the Amazon River officially begins just below Manaus.

The Amazon basin ecosystem is fascinating in that it experiences extreme differences between the dry and wet seasons, with water levels often rising between 10-15 meters over the course of a few months. Check out Google Maps satellite images to see the seasonal difference in topography. Currently, the river is experiencing its wet season, with the water levels high enough to flood broad swaths of forest. This meant that as we explored in the motorized canoe, we were often level with the tops of trees, perfect for seeing orchids up close!

Left: "The Otter", our home for 12 days in the Amazon
Right: Looking for orchids in the motorized canoe (Photo: Rick Burian)

While we saw at least 28 identifiable orchid species, one of my personal favorites was Galeandra devoniana. We first came across this species during our second day on the river. We were exploring a submerged forest and there were many dead trees sticking out of the water. The Galeandra were growing on the dead wood, just above water level, in full sun. It’s important to note that we were just about 2 degrees south of the equator and the sun was very strong. Yet, there these plants were, blooming very happily out in the open.

Galeandra devoniana growing in full sun on exposed, dead trees

There was some color variation to the flowers with the petals and sepals ranging from golden brown to a deep bronze. The lips were white with varying amounts of dark pink stripes extending out from the column. The one exception to this was the very first flower we found (pictured at top), which seemed to be a very light form. The petals and sepals were more of a gold color and the stripes on the lip were very fine. Younger plants had one or two flowers while more mature plants had 6 or more. The plants themselves seemed to have some variation in shape, as well. Some had thicker pseudobulbs with all the leaves emerging from the top, while others had thinner pseudobulbs with the leaves seemingly more spaced out from mid-pseudobulb to tip. The orchid experts on the trip assured me that these were all Galeandra devoniana and we speculated that some of the variation in plant morphology was due to age and maturity. For the most part, the pseudobulbs seemed to maintain their leaves year over year, unlike some other members of the Catasetinae group, which shed their leaves during a dry winter dormancy.

Two different plants of Galeandra devoniana

The speakers at our meetings often say that we can better understand how to grow our orchids by looking at how they grow in their native habitats. Where we found Galeandra devoniana in the flooded Amazon rainforest just below the equator tells me that they need high humidity (60-90%) and warm temperatures (75-90° F) year-round. They need high light/UV exposure, and they don’t rely on changing day length since the sun rises and sets around 6am/6pm all year. Therefore, this is likely not an orchid that would appreciate growing either in my house or outside in Sacramento. Will that stop me from getting one if I see one available? Absolutely not!