Cypripedium reginae

[John M]

My parviflorum and pubescens are almost all done now; but, the reginae are just beginning to open out.

 

[abax]

All of them are soooo beautiful, but the pure white is
my heart's desire...delicate and also fat pouches.

 

[phrag guy]

very nice John,I better check mine they are probably opening also.

 

[cnycharles]

Very nice! That was fast, or else I'm just losing track of time


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[John M]

Thanks everybody.

Charles; don't worry. It's not you. They do shoot up FAST!

Interesting to note, the white one is not an album. It's got a few tiny specks of colour on the back of the pouches and a VERY faint pink blush on the back as well. It's just a very, VERY, pale pink one.

 

[Wendy]

Very nice John! Mine is coming up fast as well and appears to be white so far. I expect it will have a bit of pink on it but won't know until the buds open. I'm very pleased with it no matter the colour.

 

[Cosmic Orchid]

Those are lovely! How long have you had those? Were they rescues, natives, or propagated? I read about the guy rescuing them from roads in the book "Orchid Fever" recently!

 

[JAB]

Gorgeous!

 

[John M]

Thanks again.

Yes, they're rescues. Also, I collect the seed capsules from my plants each fall, mix the seeds with sand and go for a walk in a Cyp-appropriate habitat and broadcast the seed/sand mixture to help them spread and establish new colonies. I started doing that about 13 or 14 years ago. Then, a few years ago, I found the first Cyp. pubescens in an area that had none; but, where I had spread the seed/sand mixture as long as 10 years ago!

 

[Cosmic Orchid]

That is awesome! What a great idea. :smitten:

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

John, good for you putting out seed like that. Ron Burch said that a few years after he hand pollinated C. acaule in a wild forest, he went back and found dozens of new seedlings. Every bit helps.

Question - have you seen variation in lip color from year to year? This species is famous for having deeper color if the weather is cooler during bud development.

 

[John M]

Thank you.

Yes, I've noticed that the pouch colour of reginae is temperature dependent. Of course, it is also affected by the genetics of each individual plant; but, even with that as default, the colour saturation changes each year. I have not noticed a difference in pouch colour saturation in the parviflorums or pubescens from year to year. It seems to remain very consistent.

 

[fundulopanchax]

Thank you.

also affected by the genetics of each individual plant; but, even with that as default, the colour saturation changes each year.

My reginae vary a lot from year to year in pouch color. A number of years ago there were several genetics studies done that demonstrated temperature sensitivity in the expression of proteins that are involved in synthesis of the pigments. In the album forms there were two different mutations found, one in some clones, another in other clones, that made the same enzyme inactive.

I also find a huge variation in color pattern in Ulla Silkens, a hybrid of reginae and flavum. Some years the flowers look essentially like reginae and at the other extreme some years they have virtually no color at all except for a few purple dots on the pouch. Most years they are somewhere in between.

Every spring I see new species/hybrids that I find very beautiful. Then the reginae album bloom and I recall that they are without a doubt the most beautiful. I have about 25 albums just coming into bloom and they are exquisite.