Friday, March 25, 2011

Ano ang Amoy ng Sanggumay (What is the Sanggumay's Scent)?

Sorry for the lull in my blogging. I have been busy with work which is starting to become frustrating for me. Anyway, fortunately I have my garden to turn to and plants as a diversion.

Just a quick post for now. In the past few weeks, the native orchid Dendrobium anosmum or populary called sanggumay was and I think is still is in bloom. The pendulous thick stalks of this orchid become borne with flowers ranging from pink to lavender, which is truly a sight to behold when specimens bloom simultaneously. In Sidcor, the weekend market, the sanggumays are very visible and hard to miss. There is also D. anosmum var. Dearei, or the almost pure white flowered sanggumay, which I find a little more subtle in its fragrance.

Incidentally most people regard sanggumay to have a very agreeable scent when in bloom. But to me the fragrance reminds me of cough syrup mixed with an antiseptic solution. It is undeniably fragrant but a bit overpowering, almost similar to chemicals formulated in a laboratory. Well, maybe it is just me. Ronald Achacoso commented that I am the only person he knows who says sanggumay is not entirely fragrant. But then again not all flowers could please everybody, hehehe. But the sanggumay is still a beautiful specimen to keep in the garden, fragrant or not!

11 comments:

Andrea said...

I am glad you're back as i am waiting for your posts. We have the purple in Batangas but i still havent got the white variety, which i had long been intending to do. If you dont want its smell, wait till you smell the flowers of Dracaena fragrans, or the corn plant/fortune plant! If you do post how you reacted to the smell!!! haha

metscaper said...

Sige I ll wait for one in bloom. But this Dracaena fragrans is I think not native. Sambal or Dracaena angustifolia is our native counterpart. I believe it also has very fragrant flowers, reported nocturnal.

Andrea said...

I searched how D angustifolia looks, so can differentiate it with D fragrans, but cant find reliable photos. It seems D angustifolia has more branches and narrower leaves. Can you please tell me its obvious difference, so i know what we have at home in Batangas? Thanks for the information, i thought all of them are D fragrans.

metscaper said...

I posted in the next blog picture of a malasambal.

Johnnybee said...

Sanggumay pala name ng orchid na yun, we have it here growing wildly from tree to tree, but for me....i love the smell! Whenever it is in bloom i really holdmy nose close to it :-)

Johnnybee said...
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Johnnybee said...
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Ted said...

I used to have a lot of this Purple Rain orchid (commonly referred to as the "sanggumay". When it blooms, it is, indeed, a spectacular display. I am NOT particularly crazy about the fragrance, but a whiff of it just soothes my soul.

I am from Ibaan, Batangas, and I am wondering if there are any orchid nurseries here (the stalls at the SM malls price the orchids horrendously). I have visited the Gintong Talulot at Tiaong, Quezon, but they have vandas mostly. Where is the most economical place to get orchids, aside from going into the mountains in Cebu?

metscaper said...

Hello. I just learned that Ibaan town was also named after a tree, the iba or Phyllanthus acidus.

The orchids you could people from Centris sunday market. I think their gardens are mostly in Tagaytay area.

Ted said...

You are right, Metscaper, Ibaan was named after the "Iba" tree.
There used to be a lot of them in the town square. I believe there's only on or maybe two trees left in that area now.

Tagaytay is a few miles from where I live, so I go to Gintong Talulot instead. The farm, owned by Mr. Ibarra Perliti, is located in Tiaong, Quezon. Aside from the wonderful vandas, you are also treated to the wonderful personality of Mr. Perliti.

Unknown said...

We used to have plenty of sanggumay orchids in out garden here in Laguna. I love smelling them when they are in bloom even though the smell is a bit pungent. Pero nababanguhan parin ako haha.