For Orchid Mania, we have many varieties of fragrant orchids on display this year. For the first time, we have an orchid called Rhynchostylis (pictured left), aka the foxtail orchid. Its inflorescence is packed tightly with pink, red or white flowers almost resembling a hyacinth. It has a very sweet, citrusy scent that at first I couldn’t place. I wasn’t even convinced that I liked the fragrance. But then my husband said it reminded him of the scent of Osage-Orange fruit, also known as Mock Orange (but the slang is much more fun: monkey brains). Since then, every time I walk by Rhynchostylis, I have to smell it, because it has one of the most unique orchid scents. Another orchid that has a delicious scent is the so called chocolate orchid – Oncidium Sharry Baby. We’ll have a number of these orchids on display for your smelling pleasure!

Posted by Cynthia Druckenbrod                                                      

Tags: cleveland botanical garden, Horticulture, Orchid Mania, orchids

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Cynthia Druckenbrod, Orchid Mania. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.