Ang thong Masquerade: A Tale of Mistaken Identity

[DrLeslieEe]

Recently, it has come to light that my plant, for whom I thought was a niveum album, was exposed as an ang thong, an accepted variety of godefroyae. This shocked me.

The reason were because the leaves were long, wider and bent downwards (unlike niveum, which are upwards, thin and shorter) and the staminode with two butter yellow eyes.

This idea was brought on by Dave (PaphParadise) and Olaf Grus.

Who would have thought?



What do you all think?

 

[Royal Rea]

It is very nice Leslie. And well grown. Have you put it up for an award?

 

[Tony]

I'm not a big Brachy guy so take it with a grain of salt, but if I saw that with no name I'd have guessed godefroyae before niveum. My mental image of niveum is a rounder flower.

 

[Paphluvr]

So is it ang thong alba? I always thought ang thong had a bunch of burgundy spots on the dorsal and petals.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

It is very nice Leslie. And well grown. Have you put it up for an award?

Yes it was shown for award but was passed unfortunately.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

So is it ang thong alba? I always thought ang thong had a bunch of burgundy spots on the dorsal and petals.

It’s album form so no purple dots anywhere.

 

[GuRu]

Recently, it has come to light that my plant, for whom I thought was a niveum album, was exposed as an ang thong, an accepted variety of godefroyae. This shocked me.
The reason were because the leaves were long, wider and bent downwards (unlike niveum, which are upwards, thin and shorter) and the staminode with two butter yellow eyes.
This idea was brought on by Dave (PaphParadise) and Olaf Grus.
Who would have thought?

What do you all think?

Leslie, you asked what do others think .... here is what I think though I'm no taxonomist.
Everything of your flowers and plant - except the leaves - says to me P. niveum album, nothing P. godefroyae var. ang-thong album.
-the shape of the flowers - niveum
-the shape of the staminode - niveum
-the two yellow spots on the staminode - niveum ... mine has the same yellow spots
-the tall flower stem - niveum
Not a single flower of the shown P. godefroyae var. ang-thong (album) in Olaf's book resembles the flowers of your plant.
only the foliage looks different ... but also not like P. godefroyae but more like P. thaianum
I hope you're not offended when I show photos of my P. niveum album and P. godefroyae var. ang-thong album here.
So it's up to you .... what do you think ?

P. niveum album

P. godefroyae var. ang-thong album

 

[GuRu]

P. godefroyae var. ang-thong album
For unknown reason I can see the photo uploaded from my server in the preview...but not here. So I loaded it up to the forum server.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Thanks Rudolf for your input. I am not offended at all. I encourage this discussion.

I believe myself it’s niveum album (by flowers) but was almost convinced by some it’s ang thong (leaves).

I will send to Popow to ask.

 

[TyroneGenade]

My opinion: I don't think leaf shape is informative. Leaves are display a great phenotypic plasticity -- changing shape, size and color -- with growing conditions. Flower form would be much more diagnostic.

 

[GuRu]

My opinion: I don't think leaf shape is informative. Leaves are display a great phenotypic plasticity -- changing shape, size and color -- with growing conditions. Flower form would be much more diagnostic.

Exactly.

 

[Paph Paradise]

I am not a taxonomist, but having seen this plant up close and personal, this is NOT a niveum. Maybe ang-thong x niveum, maybe whatever has been circulating as ang-thong. I sent a photo to Alan Koch of Gold Country and he is a taxonomist and he agrees.

This problem is becoming more and more common in the Paph world. I have seen plants sold as Paph charlesworthii, vietnamense, rothschildianum and of course spicerianum that were all hybrids. Unless you really trust the vendor or know the providence of the plant you can't be sure. Unfortunately even some 'trusted' vendors are less than scrupulous and are only motivated by a quick sale.

Dave

 

[FrankRC]

I am not seeing ang thong in those photos. The leaves are variable. My and thong have long pencil like leaves, nothing like those in your photos.

 

[FrankRC]

Exactly.

Exactly and I agree.

 

[papheteer]

I saw this in person. i wanted to take it home so bad. You would known it was me!

Beautiful flower regardless of the name.