# brachys and a pleasant surprise



## Pete (Jul 19, 2011)

these first two plants are just a couple of the many brachys in bloom right now. here is a _Paph. godefroyae var. leucochilum_






Here is _Paph. niveum var. alba_ this is the same clone i have posted in past years..





and here, the surprise, my friend's biggest _Paph. lowii fma. aureum_ is in flower! the first flower just opened, mine is in low sheath...sorry for the poor quality on this one, it was a cell phone picture..


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## paphioboy (Jul 19, 2011)

Superb blooms, all of them...  Any details on the origin of the lowii fma. aureum? BTW the number of paphs in the background is just insane! :drool: :drool: :drool:


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## Marc (Jul 19, 2011)

I like the flowers but allthough the picture doesn't do it justice the last one is really:

YUMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII


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## cattmad (Jul 19, 2011)

that lowii is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## labskaus (Jul 19, 2011)

That leuco is looking really good, and the niveum starts to turn into a very nice specimen plant. Well done!
I never wanted any of those lowii f. aureum seedlings. Your pic just changed my mind. Awsome!


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## SlipperKing (Jul 19, 2011)

Really nice lowii Pete. Would you happen to have extras for sale?


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## biothanasis (Jul 19, 2011)

Great flowers!!! The lowii is the best... (in case you would like to get a better picture, just stand a bit further from the flower so that the camera focuses on the flower better.. . The camera has focused on the background...)


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## Shiva (Jul 19, 2011)

The lowii looks awesome.


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## goldenrose (Jul 19, 2011)

:drool::drool::drool::drool:


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## Bob in Albany N.Y. (Jul 19, 2011)

Pete, that is a nice surprise. Very nice growing.


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## likespaphs (Jul 19, 2011)

labskaus said:


> ...I never wanted any of those lowii f. aureum seedlings. Your pic just changed my mind. Awsome!





i was thinking the same thing!


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## NYEric (Jul 19, 2011)

Thanx for sharing The plants all look great. I like the niveum album; but then the lowii aureum!! :drool: I have a lowii album, I wonder if it will come out the same?


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## Howzat (Jul 19, 2011)

Very nice lowii 'aureum". Hope you breed from it.


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## SlipperFan (Jul 19, 2011)

Now there is a lowii I really like!


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## W. Beetus (Jul 19, 2011)

Wow! I have never seen such a lowii!


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## Pete (Jul 20, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Thanx for sharing The plants all look great. I like the niveum album; but then the lowii aureum!! :drool: I have a lowii album, I wonder if it will come out the same?



yes im sure it will come out similar and is from the same batch. i thought only one plant was ever found? i may be mistaken. ive never heard of a lowii album, only the fma. aureum. maybe Dr. Braem, Olaf or Lance could weigh in.
and again, thats not my plant, it belongs to a friend of mine.


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## Ozpaph (Jul 20, 2011)

I'd be interested to hear about the growing conditions in that greenhouse. The plants look superb.


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## polyantha (Jul 20, 2011)

The first thing I said when I saw your aureum was WOW. Stunning colour, not like the album one. I like all muliflorals, but I never wanted a normal lowii in my collection. But your friend's aureum...


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## paphioboy (Jul 20, 2011)

> I like all muliflorals, but I never wanted a normal lowii in my collection.



Bit of contradiction there, don't you think?  Lowii is just gorgeous... You must not be thinking right to NOT want one...


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## valenzino (Jul 20, 2011)

Pete said:


> yes im sure it will come out similar and is from the same batch. i thought only one plant was ever found? i may be mistaken. ive never heard of a lowii album, only the fma. aureum. maybe Dr. Braem, Olaf or Lance could weigh in.
> and again, thats not my plant, it belongs to a friend of mine.



2 very nice flowers absolutely!

I've heard about 3 different lowii's that have no pigmentation other than yellow or greenish....but I think only 1 reached the USA...


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## SlipperFan (Jul 20, 2011)

I kind of agree with polyantha -- lowii was never one of my favorites. I've seen some pretty spectacular clones shown on this forum, though, so I've been looking for a really good one. I recently purchased one from Tom Kalina that I hope will be a really good one.


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## John M (Jul 21, 2011)

Man! I love that niveum and lowii!!!!!!! Drool!!!!!
Pete, are the lowii's originating from Sam Tsui? I've seen photos of his and they seemed green. I didn't like them. This yellow is spectacular!


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## JeanLux (Jul 21, 2011)

Great brachy plants with lovely blooms, bravo!!!! I am sure I could get used to that lowii color !!! Jean


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## Roth (Jul 21, 2011)

Pete said:


> yes im sure it will come out similar and is from the same batch. i thought only one plant was ever found? i may be mistaken. ive never heard of a lowii album, only the fma. aureum. maybe Dr. Braem, Olaf or Lance could weigh in.
> and again, thats not my plant, it belongs to a friend of mine.



The history of those lowii, I have seen live 3 of those plants.

Au Yong got a lowii aureum from Baliem area about 20 years ago. He never sold divisions, until he had four single growth plants. Then Sian Lim bought one of those plants for Sam Tsui and got it shipped to him. I saw the original plant in bloom at Au Yong, and that seedling is a perfect copy. There is a picture of it in Phillip Cribb book, don't remember if it is paph ver 2 or most likely slipper orchids of Borneo. 

Now, the 'Albino Beauty' picture is a very DIFFERENT lowii, a green and white one, so this one cannot, absolutely and definitely be the parent of this seedling ( and therefore of all the others). It is not as well the same type of colony (your friend's seedling is clearly the same type as Au Yong, from south Sarawak, the Albino Beauty is apparently more an Indonesian type ???). 

One second lowii aureum/yellow has been seized during the Sian Lim story in England. I don't think it is around anymore. It was coming from Francis Gombek. I saw it live at Sian's father-in-law place, when he was working for a big company in Penang.

There was/is another mysterious plant, I have seen it live in bloom, and photos afterwards proving it bloomed SEVERAL times and was a big plant, I would say 10 growths according to the picture. It was the Kinabalu type of lowii, massive flowers, huge plants, few flowers per stem, absolutely horizontal, quite narrow petals. That one was white and green. I saw the plant, the photos in 2003 during a trip in Sabah, they did not want to divide/sell it, and the plant was obviously grown for years... I made a big offer to get a division, but no way.

In 2007, I asked them again, they did not remember anything about it, never had such a plant... Then they gave to me their photo album, and I pointed the photos. They told me 'Oh, that's a picture we took at Au Yong, we never had that plant'. It was not, and was really a different one. Incidentally, that's the same place who got first the volonteanum Sandowiae/albinistic. But indeed that huge clump existed, and was a different one. It never reappeared anywhere in the world as of today.


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## Pete (Jul 21, 2011)

thanks for the clarification xavier. you are correct. the plant i showed as well as the one that i have, are from Sam, which are from SIan Lim through Baliem.


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## Pete (Jul 21, 2011)

John M said:


> Man! I love that niveum and lowii!!!!!!! Drool!!!!!
> Pete, are the lowii's originating from Sam Tsui? I've seen photos of his and they seemed green. I didn't like them. This yellow is spectacular!



john i crossed the niv alba with my best godefroyae alba. should be veryyy nice. i LOVE greyi alba..


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## NYEric (Jul 21, 2011)

Pete said:


> john i crossed the niv alba with my best godefroyae alba. should be veryyy nice. i LOVE greyi alba..


Me some too!?  BTW, how did my camera get to Hawaii!?


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## chrismende (Jul 21, 2011)

I love the lowii aureum! Gotta get me one, so to speak!


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## Pete (Jul 21, 2011)

yes eric, your on the list for the greyi albas.


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## Rick (Jul 21, 2011)

I've only seen a couple of pics of aureum lowii, and they looked pretty rough (all recently collected or insitu I think). Even with the fuzzy photo, the form on yours looks excellent Pete.

And the depth of yellow is much better than what I'd expect from an alba.

I like it lots!!


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## Pete (Jul 21, 2011)

ya, me too. the form is killer on this one.


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## Ozpaph (Jul 22, 2011)

I'll ask the obvious, has it been selfed?


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## NYEric (Jul 22, 2011)

Pete said:


> yes eric, your on the list for the greyi albas.


:rollhappy:


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## McPaph (Jul 23, 2011)

WOW. All look great. Love the lowii


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## smartie2000 (Jul 23, 2011)

:drool:aureum lowii! omg


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