# Has Phrag fischeri been found in the wild?



## silence882 (Jul 5, 2006)

Like the title says... Does anyone know if Phrag. fischeri has been found growing in the wild? I believe it was described based on a single imported plant which bloomed in the greenhouses of Orchids Limited amongst a group of imported schlimii(?). E.A. Christenson in an AOS article from a few years back fuzzily mentions its habitat as near Maldonado, Ecuador, but I am unsure of that.

Anyone at all?

And on a side note, does anyone happen to have a copy of the description of Phrag. fischeri from Leaflets of the Schlechter Institute 3 (1996) that they could e-mail me?

Thanks

--Stephen


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## Jon in SW Ohio (Jul 5, 2006)

I have seen pics of it growing in situ, so I imagine it has.

EDIT: Here's the pic, I don't remember where it came from though.






Jon
________
Volcano digital


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## kentuckiense (Jul 5, 2006)

Great photo!


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## Kyle (Jul 5, 2006)

Its found near the ecuador/columbia border. Very difficult to get to. That picture was taken by Alex Portillia

I would like to go to the habitat to see how aboundant it is. It self pollenates. boissarianum is another Phrag that self pollenates and where you find populations of boissarianum you find lots of plants, to the point of being a weed. 

I'm curious if the same hold true for fisherii because it also self pollenates.

Kyle


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## Jmoney (Jul 5, 2006)

I always found it funny how it just "popped" up among an importation of schlimii. I'm not necessarily implying wrongdoing, but that doesn't seem very CITES-friendly to me. nor all those "alba" forms that pop up from time to time either. (and my personal take on CITES is that the people responsible for it as it applies to slippers can go to @$^@^$ hell).


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## silence882 (Jul 5, 2006)

Thanks much for the info, guys. It helps to know that it's a good species and not a single aberrant clone.

As for CITES, it wasn't really enforced in the US until the late 80s/ early 90s. The original plant of Phrag. fischeri may have been imported before then.

--Stephen


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## couscous74 (Jul 5, 2006)

According to the Fischers, it was 1996...
http://www.orchidweb.com/dtl_spec.asp?PRecno=535


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## kentuckiense (Jul 5, 2006)

Orchids Limited said:


> Phragmipedium fischeri was discovered in 1996 amongst a group of imported artificially propagated plants of Phragmipedium schlimii from Ecuador.



Uhh?


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## silence882 (Jul 6, 2006)

Yeah it's kinda hard to find a new species in a group of artificially propagated plants...

The description, graciously sent to me by Olaf, lists its provenance as being wild-collected in Ecuador.

--Stephen


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## kentuckiense (Jul 6, 2006)

silence882 said:


> Yeah it's kinda hard to find a new species in a group of artificially propagated plants...


Yeah, a little clarification of that would be good.


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