Tiger Orchid, The Beauty of Papua

Indonesia was heaven on earth. Perhaps that opinion was not mistaken. Just look at the wonderful nature with abundant resources, a tremendous wealth. We should be grateful for that.One of them, Indonesia's forests rich in various types of orchids pretty remarkable. One of them is the tiger orchid ( Grammatophyllum Scriptum ) found many in Papua.

Grammatophyllum Scriptum is  a species  of orchids  of  the family Orchidaceae . Basic strands of colored flowers and mottled yellowish-brown spots. Because the motive mottled-spotted orchid that is often called the tiger orchid. There is also a strand of colored flowers green base. The orchid is not too large, long sepalnya only approx 3 cm.

Grammatophylum scriptum mostly from coastal forest, with a height of no more than 100 m above sea level. There is growing on the ground, nothing sticks in the trees. In maintenance, this kind of like heat and water, but do not let stagnant. So, as much as possible, put this orchid in a place exposed to direct sunlight. Type of planting medium that can be used to grow orchids are ferns or charcoal. Wreaths long, dangling bawah.Oleh Therefore, tiger orchid is best planted in crates and hung or attached to a tree branch.

Tiger orchid has a short pseudo bulbs. The leaf blade grows over this pseudo bulbs. In ancient times the natives Ambon make a paste of artificial orchid tubers to treat wounds.

Tiger orchid in Indonesia are in Papua, Sulawesi, Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara. In Indonesia, at least three kinds of tiger orchid found. All three are different in terms of color, pattern, and spacing antarkuntum flowers. Tiger orchid bouquets of Papua has long, can reach 1.5-2 meters, a distance of flowers with each other closely enough. These orchids usually bloom once a year, but some are flowering twice a year.Flowers last quite a long time, until about two months. Appearance tiger orchid flowers originating from Tual islands is similar to that from Papua.However, shorter flower stalk, between 1 / 3-1 / 2 of the stalk tiger orchid Papua. Flowering period is not too long and quickly formed flower seeds. Tiger orchid is found also in Ternate and Flores. Appearance interest similar to that of Papua, but the distance is not meeting flowers.There is more to come from Sulawesi and Ambon, but the color of the flower is more faded.

In the Philippines were also found Gramatophyllum scriptum . There are brown plain, there are green and small-sized by the number of lots and the florets within the meeting. Tiger orchid spread also in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji Islands and Santa Cruz.

Eboni. The Black Sweet.

He was tall and lanky, like fairy fashion on the catwalk. Pembawaanya shade. Some white flowers Decorate the upper part of his body. Her dark brown skin looks beautiful, sparkling in the sunlight exposure. Her presence seemed always anticipated by the general public. He was the idol of the heart ebony.

The author had met him several times and asked him to take pictures together. However, dear dear thousand, the ebony originating from ebenaceae familia is in fact not a girl. He is simply the name of a type of tree, favorite artists and creators of luxury furniture.

Figure 1. Stand ebony tree in the Garden (middle). Source: personal documentation.

Ebony Diospyros celebica or also known as ebony, Macassar ebony, Coromandel ebony, streaked ebony and black ebony, is a kind of wood production with features such as a layer cake, black and yellow are naturally found only in Sulawesi (endemic). Stems grow tall and straight with a height can reach 40 m. Rod underneath can reach diameters of 1 meter and are often equipped with board roots (buttresses) were great.

Figure 2. The bark is dark wood. Source: personal documentation.

Grooved bark, peel small brown and black. Pepagannya brown and the inside is white yellowish.

Figure 3. Leaves ebony. Source: personal documentation.

Single leaf, arranged alternate, elliptic elongated, with pointed tip, the top surface shiny, leathery and dark green, hairy beneath the surface of the green and gray. The upper surface of leaves are not hairy and dark green.


Figure 4. Leaf ebony (bottom side). Source: personal documentation.

The flowers are clustered in axillary, white. The fruit is oval, hairy and red colored yellow to brown when older. The flesh is whitish often eaten by monkeys, squirrels and bats; which thus acts as an agent pemencar seed. The fruit is oval, hairy and red colored yellow to brown when older. The seeds are shaped like an elongated wedge blackish brown.

Figure 5. Fruit ebony. Source: personal documentation.

This species can be found in primary forests on clay, sand or rocky soil that has good drainage, at an altitude of less than 400 m. Ebony also like topography hilly area with steep slopes.

Ebony produce very good quality wood. Dark brown wood color, black, or black striped reddish. Sapwood is white to pink and wooden porch black or brown vang black rows. This wood is very heavy, with a specific gravity of 0.76; class durability and strength is classified in class one. Ebony including heavy wood with a density exceeding water, so it can not float.

Figure 6. The texture of black wood is very beautiful. Source: Wikipedia Indonesia.
Eboni known to have a very slow growth. In its natural habitat, wood texture colored striped brown and yellow with motifs known to be very beautiful, will be formed after the tree reaches the age of about 60-80 years.

As a result of a very massive logging in the 1970s, this time with the tree population aged above 50 years are very rare. Along with more demand, the price of black wood is also becoming soar. Price per cubic meter of ebony best quality in the UK can reach tens of millions of rupiah.

Because the quality is very good, this wood including wood exports are very expensive and mempunvai many uses including for pole bridge, veneer of luxury, furniture, sculptures, carvings, home decoration, musical instruments (eg, guitar and piano), sticks and boxes jewelry.

In Indonesia, known as the ebony black wood. Other names are wood Itam, toetandu, sora, lotong wood, and wood maitong. Ebony is the identity of the flora of Central Sulawesi.