The word Kesorkol is used in the law of the Kingdom of Cambodia but for the last decades it has remained almost elusive. It was spoken with care and even sometimes with reverence by local orchid fans.

To find out more about this term, there was one key person to ask: Cambodia’s Orchid Ambassador Dr. Hul Sovanmoly, esteemed Academic and Researcher (botanist / taxonomist) in Tropical Botany, specialised in the Asian Flora of the Indochinese Peninsula, particularly of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – and long time expert of the French National Museum of Natural History, Paris.

We asked her for more information on the origins of the word  ‘កេសរកូល’ (kesorkol). Please click on the read more button below for the full story. 

​The funny case of the Golden-fronted Leaf-bird and the Dendrobium secundum
 
The photo was taken by Vuthy Phan, in Mondulkiri, Cambodia, 2016. 
The orchid is the distinctive Dendrobium secundum – also known as the ‘tooth-brush’ orchid. 
A bird expert, Rob Overtoom, helped to identify the bird as a male Chloropsis aurifrons or more commonly known as the ‘golden-fronted leafbird’. 
 
The documentation of orchid pollination by birds is rare and was previously documented in the region by Burkill in 1919 in Singapore (Cf.).This photographic evidence is an important sign that orchid pollination by birds is most likely taking place in Cambodia. There is a need for more documentation and substance to make a more definitive claim and perhaps this intrigue will inspire scholars and researchers. 
 
For starters, Darwin reminds us with a short and simple phrase about evolution, that ‘what is considered useful is kept’. And so over millions of years, the relationship between species evolved. Some flowers seemed to have 'found it useful' to even mimic some insects. Orchids are famous for this. But they are not the only ones to have developed strategies. For example, you may be interested to watch this Mantis Orchid relationship.… This demonstrates rapidly that, while orchids have their own ‘strategies’, they are not alone. Each species is left to its own and has to devise both survival strategies and reproductive ‘plans’. These strategies and plans are unfolding all the time between all species, overlapping, complementing or conflicting with each other. 

Therefore to make sense of the photo above, we need to take both the bird and the orchid perspectives and try to understand how these come together in this picture. For this, here is an enlightening excerpt from Van der Pijl and Dodson:
 
“What else makes an orchid good for birds?
1. Vivid colors
2. Absence of odor because birds lack the sense of smell
3. Small or curved-back flower lip since birds do not need to land on flowers
4. Abundant nectar in medium-length, rather broad tubes with a capillary system
5. Tubular horizontal flowers, often hanging free, with space for hovering birds
6. Hard flower walls with protected organs because of hard bird beaks
7. No nectar guides since they are not necessary for birds”
 
With this in mind, we can already refine our search and rule out some possibilities:
 
1. The Perspective of the golden-fronted leafbird:
-Is it a mating strategy ? Is the bird waiting to meet a companion like this female standing near other Dendrobium species? While this (and shyness) cannot be ruled out, on the photo at least, the male seems to show more interest in the flowers. 

-Is the bird looking for food and if so… what kind of food?
This bird is known to go on orchid bananas binges and also eats fruits like berries, but it is unlikely to have mistaken orchid bananas for orchid flowers. Still flowers are a pretty easy spot to find insects, specially for this one. It is therefore possible that the bird is hunting for insects inside the flowers - and acts as pollinator by visiting other flowers.
 
-Is the bird collecting nectar?
The spiked tongues of the golden-fronted leafbird are well adapted for taking nectar from tubular flowers. 
Like hummingbirds, they can hover in front of a flower while retrieving the nectar. Descriptions of the D. secundum resonate well with this bird’s view point:  'waxy glossy, fragrant tubular flowers that do not open well…on cane-like semi-pendulous and leafless stems’...perfect to land on.  There is a strong lead here….

2. The Perspective of the Dendrobium secundum:
Orchids use flowers to reproduce. They need pollinators to carry their pollen between flowers. They have developed multiple ways to attract pollinators (flower shapes, colors, fragrances, pheromones…). 
 
The D. secundum is a fragrant orchid – many orchids use the stratagem of smell and produce pheromones that mimic the smell of food or of the ‘opposite sex’ – but since birds have no sense of smell this strategy applies to insects and there is another problem…the D. secundum is not known to produce nectar. So the plot thickens...

Is the bird’s visit simply coincidental?
Can answers be found looking at the flowers? The D. secundum is known as the ‘Toothbrush orchid’ because of its perfectly lined and upward standing flowers. This is a distinctive feature. Its stems are also leafless when in flower, making it easy for birds to land and access the flowers.

While the shape of the flowers makes it unlikely for rain to penetrate, it is possible that the tubular shape is able to capture and keep mist water / dew and the bird could be attracted to drops of water kept in the flowers. Additional research could help answer some of these questions.

3. A twist in the relationship: the Erythrina orientalis
Most interestingly, the Chloropsis aurifrons is particularly attracted to flowers that look nearly the same shape and size as Dendrobium secundum, with a similar shaped inflorescence, particularly the flowers from trees, such as Erythrina fascia, that is common in Cambodia. The ressemblance with the D.  secundum is striking both in shape but also in vibrance with species  such as the Erythrina orientalis. The flowers of D. secundum are a unique vibrant-pink color and this differs from the reddish colors of the flowers of the Erythrina. 
 
But humans and birds see things quite differently. All birds are known to have near-UV vision, and this feature is expected to be important in their foraging behavior. Some orchid species have bright near UV reflectance and this may help birds recognise their flowers - Van der Pill and Dodson give more details: 'interestingly a feature is that most bird pollinated orchids do not have highly contrasted UV. Yet many orchids that are pollinated by birds ie Dend. do have such features.’ and… ‘Dendrobium species possess a dramatic bullseye pattern in the near UV (370-390 nm).’

This is Vanilla atropogon (atro: dark, and pogon: beard, referring to the dark, hairy lip). 

It was co-described six years ago by Andre Schuiteman from Kew Botanical Garden and was only known from one location (Khanh Hoa Province) in south Vietnam. 

The discovery in Cambodia was made by Mr Det Song in central Cambodia and marks a very nice start for orchid research in 2019! 

Finding Vanilla in the wild is pretty rare, but having the Vanilla in flower is even more of a feat, as the flowers only last for one day. This makes the identification of this plant a real achievement.

As seen on the picture above, a large number of ants seem to be attracted to its pods despite its spectacular flower. As indicated in the publication by Dr Schuiteman, the unusual colour of the lip of V. atropogon in combination with the bad smell of the flowers suggests that it may be pollinated by flies.

There are over 100 known species of Vanilla in the world today, but only 3 are farmed for their commercial value. While early botanists of Indochina like Pierre L. had documented the presence of Vanilla siamensis in Cambodia (1874), the find was confirmed by Dr Dy Phon in 1968, by Marie Martin in 1970, by Marpha Telepova texier, Olga Averyanov, Jancloes (C, C, N), and Tola Sem in 2013/2014. A year later, a new Vanilla finding was also made by Sok Vichea: Vanilla aphylum (leafless). This latest finding is therefore the third known Vanilla species in Cambodia.

The Chicago Botanical Garden is currently hosting an Orchid Show that features some amazing displays, including an historical orchid timeline* and we have the honour to show-case it here, for you. 
*A few more time-events were added to this digital adaptation produced by OrchidCambodia.

This study marks a new step forward in orchid research in Cambodia - and will greatly help us to complete the orchid checklist. It also illustrates perfectly the importance of the National Collection in the work of preservation and research. 

Excerpt from the introduction:
'The orchid flora of Cambodia is still inadequately known. In the most recent enumeration (Seidenfaden, 1992), 164 species were listed for the country. More species have been discovered since, especially by Cedric Jancloes and Marpha Telepova (pers. comm.), but relatively few records have been formally published (Telepova, 2009, 2013; Averyanov, 2013). It is also worth noting that 21 species of Cambodian orchids, some of which represent new records for the country, are described by Leti et al. (2013) and illustrated with colour photographs. Considering the high orchid species richness of the neighbouring countries of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, it is probably a conservative estimate that at least 500 orchid species occur naturally in Cambodia.'

To read the full documents, you can download the first volume here: Download full-text PDF 
and you can download the second volume here: Download full-text PDF

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