Paphs. in situ - here Paph. liemianum at Mt. Sinabung

In 1986, I made the first trip to the Paphiopedilum locations with orchid friends. At that time, we were still using articles from Orchid Digest as a model - the Internet didn't yet exist. We repeatedly asked locals about the plants, taking photos of the individual species with us - not always successfully.

Our first stop on the island of Sumatra was to be Lake Toba. From Medan, the journey took us several hours in a minibus past clear-cut forests. Oil palms were supposed to grow here one day - one of the few sources of income for the rural population.

The following pictures are witnesses from a time long gone - the photos had to be scanned as slides. Please excuse the less than optimal quality of the pictures.

The accommodation on the island of Samosir was simple and cheap - we showered in Lake Toba. Paph. tonsum was said to grow in the upper wooded area of ​​the island's Bukit Holbung. We quickly found a guide based on the pictures we had brought with us.

After two sweaty hours of climbing, when the guide pointed out all sorts of plants, it quickly became clear to us that he didn't know Paph. tonsum at all. After a terrible sunburn on my head, all that remained were a few pictures of ferns and Nepenthes.

The island of Samosir has a lot to offer culturally, however, before we continued on towards Berastagi.

We found a small orchid nursery outside the city and asked if we could explore the location of Paph. liemianum. We arranged to meet there the next day for 80 US$. Here are a few more photos from the nursery:

The goal of our dreams: Mt. Sinabung

After driving for almost an hour, we continued on foot. At first, the path was still bumpy, before the path led us into a rocky stream bed. We had already been climbing for over two hours when our guide pointed to the rocks in front of us - we had to climb up there...

The Paphios were in a very shady place with daytime temperatures of around 24 degrees. The roots grow directly on the rock with little humus.

The gardener had collected a few plants for himself. What is particularly interesting is that he had also collected plants with marbled foliage (see left in the photo) at the site.

What an experience. A break after work.

Soil samples brought from the Paph. liemianum site were analyzed at home by a laboratory: