Very impressive work you are doing with Palms, Mike!
I am not a palm person though I have a small species in a
very large pot for about 30 years. My own interest is in mosses and selaginella, besides orchids. So I added your site to my favorites under Moss images!!
If you happen to get moss growing in your potted plants as a weed (moss grows as a weed in the NW) and toss it out I would sure like to have some of it, whenever. Just email me.
Hope to see more pics of the orchids, mosses (terrestrial and epiphytic), and the other cool epiphytes, like the Polypodium on the tree!!!

Cheers,
Jerry

I really enjoyed the pictures of your palms and seedlings. I had no idea there were so many different kind of palms! thanks.
sue

Wonder why no one has had a guess at the name. Possibly Epidendrum tampensis?

Mike, welcome. Thanks for posting the pictures. How fortunate you are to have this land. Whitecat8

I am also guessing it is Encyclia Tampensis. It is a bi foliar orchid with very short, fat pseudobulbs & those long inflorescences (granted, there are many bi foliar orchids with short, fat pseudobulbs. But few are native to Florida). I bet it smells pretty nice when it blooms! To the cool palm guy... Great pictures! I love the shots of your property in Ft. Pierce! You know, if you do not build your house there, you could just load up all the trees with epiphytes & make a new orchid jungle (like the one that the Fuchs family had which was blown away in a hurricane back in the 60's or 70's). Be sure to post some pictures when you see them blooming again!

-Ray-

Everyone thanks for the compliments on the photos, It turns out there is 5 different clusters of orchids growing on that 1 spot on the tree. 2 monsters at least 12" across 2 babies just a few bulbs, and 1 about 8"across.

Ray, someone else on 1 of the other forums said the same Encyclia tampensis or Butterfly orchids. Thanks for the id. The other thing you said about the Fuchs family. Like i said i am new and that was news to me when i read your post. Then this morning in my newspaper this is what i saw. It kinda blew my mind. I don't know if this is legal or not but here it is.
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HAH! If there has ever been a sign that you are the one to start the new "Orchid Jungle"... Actually, I went home to Orlando this weekend to visit the parental units. My mother loves Vandas as much as I do, so I was telling her about Robert & Michael's place down in Homestead & how she needs to save a bunch of money for her visit. My stepfather was flipping thru the news paper as she & I were talking & he found that article! It was like magic, I spoke & it appeared! Now of course the article in the Orlando Sentinel was different from yours (for one it was much short & did not have all the cool pictures!) but it was still enough to get her excited!

-Ray-

Hey bestdank, I decided to look thru my "Wild Orchids of Florida" book to look at other encyclias that are native. I found another that looks very similar to Enc. Tampensis. It is called Enc. Rufa. The Rufa has P.B.s up to 12 cm long & flower spikes up to 70cm long. The Tampensis has P.B.s that are up to 7cm long (so the look much more squished) & flower spikes up to 80cm long. The flowers are just slightly different, with Rufa having a yellow lip instead of the purple lip found in Tampensis. According to the book, there has only ever been one specimen collected in Brevard county (near Melbourne to be more specific) near the coast. The botanical gardens in New York are supposed to have the specimen which were originally collected. According to the book a man with the last name of Small collected it (though I have not been able to find out his first name).

So nothing terribly consequential, but just some interesting information I thought I Might share. Goodnight!!!

-Ray-

A request:

If you do build a house on that land, *please* don't cut down that tree or destroy any orchids! There is so little habitat left--especially in FL--that we need all the wild orchids we can get.

I second that Housenewbie!

Actually this property has been in my family for 35years or more I inherited back in 2001 when my dad died. I would never be able to purchase a piece of land like that at the price it would sell for. The house I grew up in which my little brother has is across the street from it. I am only 28 an currently have a house 4 miles away that I own. So there is no set plans on the house this is just my property. Years and years away if any. There are only 13 other houses and it is a private neighborhood. All the houses are built on stilts around the natural florida habitat or wetlands. This would be a requirement if I ever do get to put a house on it. But in the mean time if you have seen the blog then you can see I am a man that fears no seed or plant challenge. So I am doing my homework, reading up on orchids and growing new babies, talking to neighbors and I really want to try to repopulate the neighborhood. I took a little stroll through the neighborhood today and spotted at least 5 other trees from the street that had colonies growing on them. So I am very excited about doing this I love challenges so stay tuned and I will keep you all updated on my future endeavors. Here is a partial shot of the property The Live Oaks must be over 100 years old or more. These trees are all over the neighborhood so there is lots of good spots for the orchids to grow. And the other shot is one of the other colonies I saw today. It has almost wrapped around the trees limb completely. Sorry for the long post but it is my first on your board so just trying to fill yall in. Check back on the blog to watch my plants grow. Always posting new pictures.

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Here is a link that might be useful: My Yard in Fort Pierce FL

I'm sorry to hear that you inherited the land thru such sad means. I ended up getting into orchids similarly to how you are. I was on a day hike thru a section of the everglades off of Tami Ami/ SW8 St./ US41. around a place called Loop Road. We were hiking thru hip high water when I spotted the butterfly orchid just a few feet off the surface of the water. Seeing this beautiful plant clinging to the trees, putting out all those beautiful flowers, I was blown away & had to learn more about them! Hopefully you will be able to repopulate the area & become an addict like the rest of us!!

-Ray-