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| The Vanda Sanderiana Orchid Davao's
very own Waling
Waling. |
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I was enthralled to see some amazing similarities between my story ("Waling") and the story of its discovery by whites. There's an obvious similarity between the discovery of Mr. Roebelin's and Kugihana's, in which both were preceded by natural disturbances (Roebelin recalled an earthquake, Kugihana braved a big storm). There is also the element of "slumber" preceding both discoveries--and both disturbances (Roebelin awoke from sleep after an earthquake then he saw the flowers through a hole in the treehouse's roof, Kugihana awoke from sleep after a raindrop fell on her eyes after which she began her search, braving a great storm). Likewise, Roebelin's recounting of a huge tree on which his treehouse nestled smoothly blends with my story's emergent (i.e., a tree that "emerges" from the roof of the forest canopy due to it's great height) on which Waling perched. Both discoveries also occured at dawn. Though these may not be much, they were enough to give me a rush of some unknown hormones!
The following was taken verbatim from Tales of Orchid Hunting.
Vanda Sanderiana
In 1882 one of
Mr. Sanders explorers by the name of Roebelin was despatched to
the Philippines to search for new species, one day, as a guest of
a "savage" chieftain south east of Mindanao, he found
himself accomodated in a tree house which was perched high in the
canopy of one particularly large tree, so as to be "well
out the way of animals".
Early in the morning whilst it was still dark he awoke to a deep
throated roaring sound and found the tree swaying wildly, it
became apparent that an earthquake had shaken the forest, and in
particular his abode, throwing all his companions to the ground,
destroying his makeshift ladder, and leaving him isolated in the
ruins of the tree house.
When dawn broke, he lay back, gazing forlornly through a hole
in the remnants of his roof, and he noticed some very large
flowers of a lilac and cinnamon colouring growing in the very
tree he had chosen as a campsite, climbing up he identified the
orchid as a new species and named it Vanda Sanderiana.
Kewl, eh? Email me if you have any comments, suggestions, complaints, etc.
