Longer waiting times during this festive period
Crowds are expected this holiday period especially on weekends and public holidays. Please expect longer waiting times to the attractions this festive period at peak periods from 3.00pm - 7.00pm. Your patience and kind understanding are greatly appreciated.
Car park availability this festive period
As car park lots in the Gardens are limited, public is advised to travel via MRT and alight at Bayfront (CE1/DT16) or Gardens by the Bay (TE22) station. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Please follow our Telegram channel for updates on the parking situation.
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Hennis' Trichopilia
(Trichopilia hennisiana)
Flowers of Trichopilia hennisiana showing its unusually large size.
It is rather surprising to find a non-typical member of the Oncidiinae group sporting few but spectacularly large blooms, so different from the long, delicate racemes of dozens of small flowers typical of the Oncidium alliance. As one of the genera of high-altitude epiphytic (occasionally lithophytic or terrestrial) Oncidium alliance of the New World Tropics, Trichopilia orchids consist of 45 species. They are mostly found in seasonally wet, low to mid-elevation montane forests from 100 to 2500m above sea level, occurring from Cuba to Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Mexico to Bolivia, the Guianas, Venezuela and Brazil.
Flowers and spikes emerging from the base of their pseudobulbs.
This particular species, Trichopilia hennisiana, is native to Colombia and Ecuador. It is reported that the species grows at high elevations: 1800-2500m in Colombia and around 1400m in Ecuador.
Flowers of Trichopilia hennisiana are large (2-3 times larger!) when compared to the typical dancing lady orchids or oncidiums, each measuring about 9cm wide and 12cm in height, lasting about 2 weeks. Most of us visualize oncidiums and their allies as possessing long, tall multi-floral spikes of small flowers; however, this Trichopilia species features short, basal inflorescences with just a few, large flowers that arch gracefully in tidy clusters, making an attractive, compact floral display.
Their fragrant flowers have cattleya-like tubular flared lips which are usually a characteristic of bee-or-wasp-pollinated orchids. Such orchids feature a chamber-like structure, often formed from the lip and column, to serve as an advertisement to their pollinators.
The genus name, Trichopilia, comes from the Greek for hair (trichos) and felt (pilos) refers to the fringe margin of the area in which anther is situated on the column in orchid flowers (clinandrium) in the type species. The species is named in honour of Wilhelm Hennis, 19th century German collector in South America and gardener in Hildersheim, Germany.
Written by: Ziana Yacob, Acting Senior Manager (Research and Horticulture)
Ziana's fascination with the many wonders of plants led her to study Horticulture. She has been involved in propagating plants and nurturing our in-house orchid collections. Keeping plants alive is a challenge and she's constantly learning about what she should or shouldn't be doing!
This article is part of our What's Blooming series.
Read Next: Brazilian red cloak (Megaskepasma erythrochlamys)
Contrary to its common name, this shrub is not native to Brazil. Its striking inflorescences consist of crimson red bracts with small, white tubular flowers.
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