THE KINTA WEED : WHICH IS IT??

My Dad was posted to Ipoh in 1958, We stayed in 3 different houses there. The first one was in a housing trust at Jalan Kampar, the second being a staff quarter at Kg Simee Road and the third also a quarter  at Jalan Abd. Jalil, Greentown. Ipoh Town is situated in the renown Kinta Valley much famous for its tin mining . Once on a car trip dad pulled over to the roadside to show us the Kinta Weed, a wild orchid that grow terrestrially in utter abandance even by the roadside. I believe mum did take a plant or two to cultivate in her garden. I understand today they are no longer seen in such abundance from the highway.

Today, reading the various write-ups, I realise some people are claiming either the Arundina graminifolia or the Papilionathe  hookeriana and even Vanda hookeriana as the Kinta Weed. We are talking about the Kinta Weed and not a Kinta Weed!

Arundina graminifolia

 by courtesy  of Martin Lee

Arundina Clump

 from rareflora.com

 I have always held the Arundina graminifolia (grass-leafed) as the Kinta Weed. That was the one my dad had shown to me before. It is also commonly known as the Tapah Weed,  Bamboo Orchid or Okid Buluh in Malay. It is so called because of its plaited linear leaf structure. It's new species name is however bambusaefolia (bamboo-leafed) .It is a terrestrial, perennial and has reedy stem often growing in clumps hence, I thought, giving it the weedy outlook. The flower, normally about 9 cm,  reminds me of the Cattleya. However, it does have a poor flowering capacity. 

Papilionanthe  hookeriana

 from forum.theorchidsource.com

On the other hand, Papilionanthe  hookeriana, a monopodial has tereted (rounded) leaves and according to some writers, thrives in water and some claim it to be semi aquatic. This comes as a surprise to me but yes, some orchids do thrive in marshlands and it's secret lies in it's ability to adapt. In my search for truth I found that some find that it hates to get it's "feet" wet. It actually perch on other aquatic plants to stay above water. This is confusing stuff!

Apparently, confusion over what is Kinta Orchid, Kinta Weed, Tapah Weed even ruled the parliamentary debate of June 1961 in the search of Malaysian national flower.I thought it was aptly expressed by the member from Larut Selatan, Dr Lim Swee Aim:

"In fact, those of us in Perak who know orchids the rest of Malaysia apparently do not know what orchids are in Perak know that that Anggerek Kinta is Tapah Weed or to give it's proper name Arundina bambusifolia. So, there is always confusion as to what is Tapah Weed and what is Kinta Weed and which is Anggerik Tapah and which is Anggerik Kinta. Only connoisseurs of orchids will be able to tell the difference."

Vanda Miss Joaquim

 from amassia.com.au

Unfortunately , he did not make it any less confusing by declaring that Kinta Orchid is Vanda hookeriana which in fact is a hybrid of  Vanda teres x Papilionanthe  hookeriana of which Vanda Miss Joaquin is a byproduct. Vanda Miss Joaquin later became the national flower of Singapore in 1981. It is named such as it was first discovered in Agnes Joaquin's garden in Singapore in 1893. 

So the confusion seems to live on......

My Own hookeriana