Trachoma
(pronounced: trah-KOH-mah)
Classification
Vandeae subtribe Aeridinae. Some authors combine Trachoma with a broadly defined Tuberolabium.
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Overview
Monopodial epiphytes. Stems short, rooting at the nodes. Leaves alternate, distichous, leathery, strap-shaped. Inflorescences axillary racemes, fleshy, the floral bracts minute. Flowers produced in short-lived successive flushes. Sepals and petals free, spreading. Lip obscurely three-lobed, saccate, without callus. Column short, without wings or foot; pollinia 2, on a common stipe with a minute viscidium.
Etymology
From the Greek trachoma, meaning rough, referring to the appearance of the closely-spaced floral bracts on the rachis.
Distribution
A genus of six species from Southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow Trachoma in small pots with a medium grade epiphyte mixture or on slabs with a small pad of moisture retaining material at the roots. Provide intermediate to warm temperatures, medium bright light, and steady watering throughout the year. Flowering occurs in periodic spasms as the inflorescences elongate. Triggered by an environmental stimulus, all plants of a species will flower simultaneously in cultivation.
Literature
Savage, G. A. 1990. Conservation of rare and endangered plants: Trachoma stellatum. Orchid Rev. 98(1159):150-151. Wood, J. J. 1990. Notes on Trachoma, Tuberolabium and Parapteroceras (Orchidaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 10:481-486.
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