Orchids | Orchid Flowers: paphiopedilum

Showing posts with label paphiopedilum. Show all posts

September 17, 2015

Paphiopedilum helenae

This species is one of the smallest of the Paphiopedilums and a fairly recent discovery (1996). Paphiopedilum helenae is from Vietnam and the plant is only 12 cm across with 5 cm flowers. I've seen different examples of the species and there is considerable variation in flower color and shape, but I have not seen any that were not charming. Interestingly, this species does best for me when grown with my Masdevallias and New Guinea Dendrobiums in cooler conditions. Perhaps that is just due to the fact that it gets higher humidity and better light when grown with them, but it thrives and blooms under those conditions.

Paphiopedilum China Dragon

Paphiopedilum China Dragon is a hybrid of Paphiopedilum Nisqually and Paphiopedilum China Song, and has four species in its background, Paphiopedilums acmodontum, appletonianum, bullenianum, and a double dose of sukhakulii. It has variegated foliage and blooms faithfully for me every spring. It is quite a small plant as Paphiopedilums go and the flowers are not large either, but I've kept, charmed by its lovely colors and shape.

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii

This is the same plant and the same blooming that I posted a couple of weeks ago, but this time photographed on black or dark blue. As I mentioned in the previous post, this plant always produces two flowers for me. The species is from Thailand, is one of the smaller Paphiopedilums and has beautifully patterned leaves.

Paphiopedilum helenae

This is a Paphiopedilum I would not be without. It is one of the smallest of the Paphiopedilums and a very recent discovery (1996). Paphiopedilum helenae is from Vietnam and the plant is only 12 cm across with 5 cm flowers. I've seen different examples of the species and there is considerable variation in flower color and shape, but I have not seen any that were not charming. Interestingly, this species does best for me when grown with my Masdevallias and New Guinea Dendrobiums in cooler conditions. Perhaps that is just due to the fact that it gets higher humidity and better light when grown with them, but it thrives and blooms under those conditions.

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii is a species from Thailand. It is a smaller plant but has large and dramatic flowers. Rather unusual for this species, my plant always has two flowers per flowers, rather than just one. Not only are the flowers beautiful, however, but the plant is too, with beautifully patterned fans of leaves. I photographed this on white for a change, though only one flower was open at the time.

Paphiopedilum China Dragon

Paphiopedilum venustum

My Paphiopedilum venustum is in bloom again. It blooms faithfully very year in winter or early spring. The flowers on my plant are nothing special, rather small for the species and rather poorly shaped, but the species is worth having even then and the detail of the flowers is incredible. The plant is from the Himalayas, Nepal, Indian and Bangladesh.

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii

Paphiopedilum sukhakulii is from Thailand and is named after a Thai orchid collector. It has always been one of my favorite Paphiopedilum species and this seedling, purchased a number of years ago, finally bloomed. It is a small species, has beautifully mottled foliage and ordinarily carries only one flower, but this bloomed with two. The flowers are 9cm tall and 13cm from tip to tip, not extraordinarily large for the species.

Paphiopedilum venustum

My Paphiopedilum venustum is in bloom once again with two flowers. I like the species, but the flowers on my plant are quite small and the petals reflex back behind the flowers which was especially disappointing when it first bloomed. The flowers are still beautiful, however, and I decided do a series of macro photos to show some of the details of this remarkable species, a good example of the odd colors and forms in the genus Paphiopedilum. The species, by the way is from the Himalayas.

flower front