A Rare Form of Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi
Its Reappearance After a Quarter Century
©2006 Dr. David L. Grove, PhD.
Originally published in the August 2006 edition of Orchids,
published by the American Orchid Society

THIS IS THE STORY of the discovery, identification and conservation of a rare and beautiful form of Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi, a single specimen of which was collected in Thailand in 1975 and another not found until a quarter of a century later. On weekends in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, about a dozen sellers of Thai orchid species would come to a broad space in front of the Royal Hotel in the center of Bangkok. There they would squat with their backs against the trunks of the huge tamarind trees that shaded the area and would spread their plants out on the pavement in front of them. These sellers were not outlets for established orchid nurseries; they were individual peddlers who came to this improvised marketplace from all over Thailand by bus and by train, carrying their small supply of plants in gunny sacks or baskets. Neither were they the actual collectors of the plants: they had obtained them from species hunters who had salvaged them from trees cut down by loggers, road crews and farmers who were converting jungle into lumber, farmland and charcoal. The vendors opened for business shortly after dawn on Saturday, and, shortly after that, a number of avid species enthusiasts would arrive and vie with one another to snatch up rare species or exceptionally good specimens before someone else did, because these small-scale sellers were the best source of rare native orchid species in Bangkok. My good friend Pravit Chattalada was one of those enthusiasts who eagerly went to the Royal Hotel each weekend. On one of my early annual trips to Thailand, around 1975, Pravit invited me to accompany him to the market and he informed me that we should be there no later than 7 a.m. Perhaps sensing that I did not seem to be too enthusiastic about the early hour, he offered an inducement. He had a standing agreement with one of the peddlers who fairly often had particularly rare or choice plants. The agreement was that he would pay her triple the going price if she reserved for him anything she regarded as exceptional and gave him the first opportunity to buy it. Pravit, on the occasion of his invitation to me, volunteered that if this seller on that particular day should have anything set aside that I liked, I could have it, since I came to Thailand only once a year. I thanked him, but did not have any high expectation that his generous option would be worth exercising.

David L. Grove. PhD (left) with Pravit Chattalada, a retired executive for IBM Thailand, for whom a new form of Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi is named. They are shown here at the Chao Praya Orchid Nursery in Pathumthani, Thailand.

When we arrived at the market, one of the peddlers, a small, rather shabbily dressed woman, beckoned to Pravit as soon as he arrived. When we reached her, she carefully opened a brown paper bag and showed us a Phal. cornu-cervi in bloom. The petals and sepals were a lustrous and uniformly dark burgundy color on both their front and rear surfaces; moreover, they had no spots or stripes whatsoever, and no chartreuse ground color or picotee. The shape of the flowers was remarkably flat. Like the typical form of Phal. cornu-cervi, the upper portion of the column was yellow and the midlobe of the lip was white. I then blurted out to Pravit that, if the option still stood, I would like to exercise it. Pravit replied that it did. I ended up paying 700 bhat (then equivalent to US$30) for the plant, as I recall it, which was an enormous price for most of the Thai species at that place and time. Meanwhile, a group of other species enthusiasts had gathered around us and were chatting in an animated fashion, obviously about the plant, although I could not understand a word of what they were saying. When I asked Pravit what all the commotion was about, he replied that they were marveling at the beauty and rarity of the plant’s flower color. It was then that I sensed that Pravit probably regretted his generosity. Having already exercised my option and paid the vendor, however, I felt it might be embarrassing to Pravit if I turned the plant over to him at that point. My solution to the dilemma was to tell him that we would own the plant jointly, and that as soon as it got a bit bigger I would bring him a division, which I did on a subsequent trip. In April 1979, I took the plant to a regional judging session in New York, where the plant received a Judges Commendation, (JC) from the American Orchid Society for its exceptional color and absence of spots. The award description reads as follows: “Two flowers with one bud on one spike; the clone appears to be the only one known with dark, solid red-purple segments; solid on both sides of the segments.” I gave the plant the cultivar epithet ‘Pravit Chattalada’ in appreciation of Pravit’s role in its acquisition.

Phal. cornu-cervi f. chattaladae 'Chinainthorn', the type specimen.

In the meantime, not all had fared well with Pravit’s division. One day, as he entered his growing area, he was just in time to see a crow flying away with his plant, which had been loosely seated in a teakwood basket. At home, in Armonk, New York, what remained of my plant was not growing well, so, when I learned of Pravit’s misfortune, it occurred to me that I should try to have a stem propagation made, in order to ensure that there would be another piece for Pravit. I approached Maynard Michel of Berkeley, California, and made an arrangement whereby he would make a stem propagation for me and could keep another for himself as payment. In due course, my piece was ready and Maynard kept one or two propagations for himself. (It is my understanding that later he made some additional ones from those.) I took my piece to Thailand, and this time Pravit was more fortunate. The plant thrived. But not too long thereafter, Pravit decided to give up growing orchids, partly because of other interests and partly because of the poor quality of the water where he lived. The Phal. cornu-cervi, however, was too precious to part with, so Pravit arranged with a friend in Chiang Mai, Chinainthorn Tipakornkarn, to keep it for him. Chinainthorn is an outstanding connoisseur, private grower and breeder of the alba form of Vanda coerulea and of a variety of color forms of Vanda denisoniana. He also has what is undoubtedly the best collection of cultivars of both these anywhere. As an accommodation to Pravit, and because he had heard of this cultivar of Phal. cornu-cervi, Chinainthorn was happy to oblige. The plant flourished under his care. For many years, however, it seemed to have no future in breeding because repeated efforts by me, Maynard Michel and Chinainthorn to make a selfing all failed, and perhaps they, also tried crossing it with other Phalaenopsis species and hybrids with no success. We all concluded that the plant was sterile and that this unique form of Phal. cornu-cervi could be conserved only by stem propagation or mericloning.

Chinainthorn Tipakornkarn, the owner of an automobile dealership in Chiang Mai, is an outstanding breeder of the alba form of Vanda coerulea and of a variety of different color forms of Vanda denisoniana, one of which he is holding.

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