Arachnis flos - aeris

Blooming Size Offsets. Bot. syn. A. moschifera. A large vining species found from Malaysia, through the islands to the Philippines. Variable in color through its range. Often called the "Scorpion Orchid", particularly the darker color forms. 'Scorpion orchid' is the English common name for any Arachnis orchid especially 'flos-aeris'.

The Asian genus Arachnis has a very fitting name ,for its flowers bear an obvious resemblence to spiders (the Greek word ''arachne''means spider). The plants are closely related to the genus Vandopsis, except for the stems of Arachnis orchids are very thin and spasely foliaged. Likewise, the inflorescences are often sparse in flowers. Arachnis orchids have highly genus-specific flowers with falcate tepals and a chin-shaped spur at the base of the lip. Plants of this genus are, either in their botanical foams or as parents of many hybrids, grown for cut flowers-especially in farms in Thailands, Malaysia and Hawii, where they are grown under the open sky. The species A.flos-aeris can be quite unwieldly, as its continuously growing stems reach heights of up to 13 ft/4 m and the infloresences can grow tobe 5ft/1.5 m in size! The gradually blooming showy flowers are up to 3.6 in/9 cm in diameter and are green-and- yellow with brown spots. This species photographed in Borneo blooms from August to November and is also native to mainland Malaysia,Sumatra and Java.