Description
Would you like to sound erudite and impressive? Sprinkle the word “equitant” into your orchid discussions (pronounced eh-quit-taunt) — this word will make you sound so highbrow, so urbane, so upper class. You can just imagine the lord of an English manor telling his gardener, “Finley, do make sure the greenhouse is kept warm for the equitant Oncidinae newly arrived from the Bahamas, there’s a good fellow.”
Clearly, “equitant” is derived from Latin. But while the word “equator” derives from “aequare”, meaning equalizer (of day and night, as days and nights on the equator are the same length), “equitant” derives from “equitare” meaning riding on horseback, as “equus” means “horse” in Latin. (Think “equestrian”.)
So how does a family of orchids get stuck with a high-falutin’ (or should it be “high-falatin’?”) name such as “Equitant Oncidiums”? It has to do with how the leaves overlap – if you were to look at a cut-away view of the leaves, you’d see that an upper leaf sits on the leaf below it as a rider sits on the saddle of a horse. OK, a bit of a stretch, this sort of thing happens all the time in botany.
Well, all that is moot now, as the whole grouping of “Equitant Oncidiums” have their own genus, Tolumnia.
One of the best things about these Tolumnias are the blazing colors and patterns on their blooms. They’re also very compact, practically miniature orchids (perfect for windowsills), that grow quickly and bloom easily. We recently acquired a mixed collection of these with no tags so we’re offering them as “mystery” plants as they will bloom out a variety of different colors and patterns.