Aerides odorata Reinw. ex Blume 1849

Common Name The Fragrant Aerides - In Thailand Kulap khao - Ueang pao - Kulap krapao pit

Flower Size 1 to 1 3/4" [2.5 to 4.4 cm]

This species is the type species for the genus and is widespread through the Chineses Himalayas, western Himalayas, Assam, Bangladesh, eastern Himalayas, India, Nepal, Andaman Islands, Myanamar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Penninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and the Philippines occuring in broadleaf evergreen lowland forests as a large to giant sized, highly variable, hot to cool growing epiphyte at elevations of 200 to 2000 meters high up in trees in bright sun with very stout, drooping, branching stems carrying fleshy, incurved, oblong-ligulate, round lobed at the apex, broad, pale green leaves. As it's name implies it is highly fragrant and blooms in the late spring through fall on up to 3, sharply pendant, to 2' [60 cm] long, many [to 30] flowered, cylindric inflorescence that arise out of the leaf axils and as developing can be very sticky and giving rise to many, waxy, very fragrant flowers.

Synonyms Aeeridium odorum Salis. 1812; Aerides ballantiniana Rchb.f. 1885;Aerides cornuta Roxb. 1832; Aerides dayana hort. 1933; Aerides jucunda Rchb.f. 1860; Aerides latifolia (Thunb. ex Sw.) Sw. 1806; Aerides micholitzii Rolfe 1904; Aerides nobilis Warn. 1862; Aerides odorata Reinw. ex Blume 1849; Aerides rohaniana Rchb. f. 1884; Aerides suaveolens Blume 1849; Aerides suavissima Lindley 1849; Aerides virens Lindley 1843; Aerides wilsoniana R.H. Torr. 1885; Epidendrum aerides Rausch 1797; *Epidendrum odoratum Poir. 1810; Limodorum latifolium Thunb. ex Sw. 1799; Orxera cornuta Raf. 1836

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862 as A reichenbachii drawing fide; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995 as Aerides pachyphylla; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905; Flora of Malaya Vol 1 Holtum 1953; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1959 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 11 1963 photo; Encylopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 3 1970 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 7 1978 photo; The Orchids Of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Seidenfaden & Wood 1982; Orchid DIgest Vol 48 No 3 1984; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 3 1985; Orchidiana Philippiniana Vol 1 valmayor 1984; Orchids of Java Comber 1990; The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchds Pridgeon 1992; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 6 1993 photo; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994; The Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia Teo 1995; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 2 1999 photo; A field Guide to the wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001; Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001; Orchid Flora Of Kamrup District Assam Iswar Chandra Barua 2001; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001; The Orchids of the Philippines Cootes 2001; Australian Orchid Review Vol 67 No 5 2002 photo; Lindleyana Vol 17 No 1 2002; A to Z of SE Asian Orchids O'Byrne 2002; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glenn 2002; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; Wild Orchids in Myanamar Vol 1 Tanaka 2003; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; Flora's Orchids Nash and La Croix 2005; Wild Orchids in Myanamar Vol 3 Tanaka 2007;