Orchids in Yemen [Archives:2000/10/Last Page]
Part 1
Barbara Evans
The word orchids conjures up, to the average person, image of colorfully attractive flowers, brought from distant lands and grown in the hot-house of the seriously wealthy or in botanic gardens. These images relate to the kinds of orchid which are epiphytic, growing upon a host plant being on the whole symbiotic with it, aerial in nature, and therefore not having a terrestrial habit. They are the orchids which have gained tremendous popularity in the world of flower cultivation, breeding and hybridization.
Astonishingly, these epiphytic make up only half of the world’s orchid population; the other half, the terrestrials otherwise known as ground orchids are probably less well known only because they have become masters of survival through camouflage. Yet this is hardly true, for orchids as a family are relatively young in the evolutionary scale of things and their means of survival are innovative and unbelievably varied; the gorgeous coloring of he epiphytes in just as wonderfully exploited by many ground orchids, whether they are in Africa or tropical Pacific islands. Indeed the coloring is of vital importance in every case and in one genus, Habenaria, which is very close to my heart, the colour green is exploited with such subtle effect that camouflage is total, whether the orchid is on a wind-swept rock in Greenland, or a grass-clad mountain top in Yemen.
To find one orchid in Arabia would be reason enough to marvel, for until now only twenty two have been found. To find nine in Yemen -that dusty dry old place, biblical, controversial Yemen, land of incense, myrrh and myth! – would seem a miracle. To have found them only in time snatched from all-consuming work and life in the capital, Sana’a, during the years 1981-1989 would make the endless and almost hopeless unless one lived there forever.
The first orchid we found or rather, almost trampled underfoot, Holothrix aphylla, is an intensely curious orchid and is no more than six inches tall with the palest of mauve, almost white flowers arranged tightly, secondly on the stem. Its habitat was a stony graveyard near an old town to the north of Sana’a. Some graveyards in Yemen are so ancient as to longer used, grazed over by flocks of sheep and vulnerable only to the weather; they are thus almost invisible at first glance for they are part of the broader terracing and pastureland. Of these orchids, others will describe the intimate botanical detail, but those who have seen them on occasion covering only stony graveyards in shallow drifts, following in ones and twos the narrow water channels on the next terrace, will never forget the alarming, demoniacal little face each presents if it is closely examined -at ground level. Two little horns and a goatee beard, a tiny face within little more than an eight of an inch, is a starling shock to the most ardent orchid lover who lies prostrate to take a closer look. It is one of my favorites for its sheer audacity. Little guardian of the graveyard.
If any orchid we found in Yemen could be called flamboyant, then Habenaria macrantha was that. Habenaria on the whole are the green ones; green in a green world, whether in grassland Savannah, on a mountainside, or in woodland, they are well disguised. This one is no exception and was found in more than one location. It is an exuberant eighteen inch high orchid, growing lustily and quite plentifully for example, at nearly 10,000 feet on precipitous thought grassy mountainsides, north of Taiz on the Sumarra, and also Maswara passes. The single stem emerges from the broadly sheathing leaves and bears the inflorescence of up to nine whitish-green flowers on its top third; it is its nature for the flowers to face in the same direction, towards the sun, and as in many of its genus, the softly narcissus-like perfume emerges towards evening. A girl of about our interest in the flowers and thought she admired them with us, she did not pick them to give as a present, which would be the normal and generous instinct of the average Yemeni, and so we inferred that either the plant was of some intrinsic value to her family, or that it simply was not the custom with these rare plants.
Just after Ramadhan in 1983, we happened to be travelling around Yemen during the Eid and were slowly wending our way back to Sana’a, with two days to go before work started again. Climbing Jebal Taaqa, near Jiblah was a pleasant afternoon occupation before finding a campsite somewhere nearby for the evening. Imagine our delight and surprise when near the very top, at about nine and a half thousand feet, we discovered a little stand of Habenaria lefebureana, an orchid which is in habit very like the lily-of-the-valley whose entrancing perfume is legendary witness ‘Muguet des Bois’ by Houbigant, now unobtainable -the aroma from this tiny six inch orchid is evocative of chocolate and almost! Once more we were in company with very young shepherds and shepherdesses, four or five in all, whose brilliant Eid clothes of purple and red (the girls) and shepherdesses, four or five in all, whose brilliant Eid clothes of purple and red (the girls) and new gentlemanly sportsjackets and futahs (the boys) gave an even more celebratory atmosphere in the sparkling afternoon air, as they ran chattering barefoot, alongside us.
They suggested we wish to drink, yes? We looked all around and saw no water, though by now our thirst was great. From under a grassy overhang, a secret place, scooped water from a pool- a tiny spring. It was crystal clear and cool. No king could give a sweeter gift. Their little faces watched gravely every movement as we each in turn received the tin and dark, whilst we almost held our breath lest we should spoil the gravity of this magic moment, of their most courteous gesture and manners.
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