''Phalaenopsis javanica'' is a species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

native to

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''javanica'' refers to the Indonesian island Java.

Description

These

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

plants have numerous, shiny, waxy elliptic-obovate, distichously arranged leaves up to 22 cm in length and 10 cm in width. Suberect

racemes A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

panicles A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are o ...

up to 25 cm long arise from the leaf axils. They produce 3 cm wide flowers with striped colouration on petals and

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

. The flowers with a cream white to yellowish ground colour are fleshy and do not open widely. Fleshy

trichomes Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

arise from the apex of the labellum. In hybridisation, the colour pattern is inherited at the diploid level. Despite the colouration, it has not been widely used in hybridisation, as the flowers are strongly cupped and have other underireable traits, which are expressed in offspring. Despite these drawbacks, 120 hybrids have been registered with the International Orchid Register of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

. The colouration is variable. White forms of this species are categorized as ''Phalaenopsis javanica'' f. ''alba'' O.Gruss & Roellke ex Christenson. This colour morph is however more yellow, rather than pure white and the forma ''alba'' might be misleading. True white colouration has not been observed.

Taxonomy

After the publication of '' Phalaenopsis floresensis'' taxonomic confusion arose, due to the misleading photographs, which were taken of not yet fully open flowers. ''Phalaenopsis javanica'' has flowers of similar appearance as ''Phalaenopsis floresensis'', however the flowers of ''Phalaenopsis floresensis'' open widely, while flowers of ''Phalaenopsis javanica'' never open fully. This mistake was reinforced by second appearance in print, in which ''Phalaenopsis floresensis'' again were photographed in a premature stage. This species is closely related to '' Phalaenopsis patherina''. This species pair is closely related to ''

Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi ''Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi'' is a species of orchid occurring from Indochina to western Malesia and the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, l ...

''.

Conservation

After the discovery of one population in the 1970s on a mountain in West Java, it was completely destroyed through poaching. This species is limited in its distribution and it is classified as rare. The conservation status is classified as threatened. It is said to be extinct in the wild. Ex situ conservation through artificial propagation has been researched. International trade is regulated through the CITES appendix II regulations of international trade.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4046797 javanica Orchids of Java Orchids of Sumatra Orchids of Indonesia