The black orchid (Coelogyne pandurata) originates from primary forest areas on the island of Borneo. This flower is used as the mascot of flora in East Kalimantan province because of its beauty and uniqueness. The black orchid is an endemic species of the island of Borneo which is protected by the state, as stated in PP no. 7 of 1999 concerning native habitats in Kalimantan. Currently, the habitat of this exotic flower has decreased significantly due to the shrinking forest area in Kalimantan and forest fires. This flower can still be found in the Kersik Luway nature reserve in small quantities.
Many people think that black orchid flowers are all black, but in reality this is not the case. The flower color is dominated by yellowish green on the petals and crown. The lip of the flower is black and the inside has black spots with a combination of black stripes.
Black orchids are included in the simpodial group of orchids. This type of orchid forms a clump, where each plant unit is connected to each other by living roots (rhizomes). New shoots that grow emerge from the previous plant horizontally and grow upwards. The new shoot will grow larger and will appear bulging on the stem. Here formed what are known as pseudobulbs (pseudobulbs) with a length of 10-15 cm. Pseudo tubers function to store water and food reserves. So, if this plant lacks water, it will not dry out immediately. Each adult black orchid will produce a new sapling where the pseudobulb will issue a flower stalk with a flower stalk length of 10-90 cm (depending on the fertility of the orchid plant).
As epiphytic plants, black orchids live attached to logs or trees and some of them grow on the forest floor on fallen logs. This plant has two leaves that look like leaves of young coconut shoots. The length of the leaves can reach 40 cm with a width of 10 cm. Bunches of this flora can grow up to 20 cm with the number of flowers reaching 14 buds per bunch. The flowers are fragrant.
This black orchid is very diligent in flowering, usually in a month it will flower 4-5 times with a flower blooming time of about 7 days. Its beauty and fragrance can be enjoyed when the flowering season arrives, usually from March to June. There are hundreds of black orchids that we can see during the spring season at the Kersik Luway nature reserve.