ID of fairly common Hybrid clone

[Bailey Hale]

Does anyone have an ID on this hybrid. It is quite common in Europe, presumably being produced in the Netherlands or Germany. It appears to be the same clone every time you see it. (Would it kill them to label the orchids in Europe?)

We see lots of them here in Madeira each year, but they aren't locally produced. I bought this one 2 years ago with 3 blooms, it had 4 last year, and will have 5 this year. I do nearly nothing to it. It just hangs out by the back door and gets fed if I remember. It's super vigorous and easy and puts on a good show. I may give it a bigger pot this year and I'm afraid to see what it will do! I think it's about to bust the pot currently.

I know it's almost impossible to identify most of the mass market complex hybrids you see for sale, but this one is distinctive enough. I have a growing appreciation for aggressively easy growers and bloomers and I want to use some of this vigor in my breeding.

Thanks!

 

[Happypaphy7]

This flower shop at Funchal had a lot of complex hybrid Paphs. Quite a few kinds but none with a name.
Each pot had a few flowers and only cost around 40. This was a few years ago.
I have not seen complex paphs in bloom sold anywhere here in Germany this spring.
I prefer to have ID tag on them, but with such vigorous plants with multiple flowers at 40, I would pick one up in a hearbeat even without a tag. The question is where would I find one?
I mean I see one at a supermarket but nothing like a flower shop in Madeira where they had entire shop filled with these. Some had giant sized flower and others had very interesting bronze pattern. Also there were a few very nicely shaped vini (maudiae vini x charlesworthii type flowers) with gorgeous leaves.

 

[Bailey Hale]

This flower shop at Funchal had a lot of complex hybrid Paphs. Quite a few kinds but none with a name.
Each pot had a few flowers and only cost around 40. This was a few years ago.
I have not seen complex paphs in bloom sold anywhere here in Germany this spring.
I prefer to have ID tag on them, but with such vigorous plants with multiple flowers at 40, I would pick one up in a hearbeat even without a tag. The question is where would I find one?
I mean I see one at a supermarket but nothing like a flower shop in Madeira where they had entire shop filled with these. Some had giant sized flower and others had very interesting bronze pattern. Also there were a few very nicely shaped vini (maudiae vini x charlesworthii type flowers) with gorgeous leaves.

You still see many hundreds of complex hybrids for sale in Funchal for Christmas, and I am quite certain they are almost all grown in Germany and the Netherlands, despite the fact that we have the ideal climate to produce them here on the island. Madeira should be exporting them to the north, not the other way around! It is odd that you can't find them in Germany. I would think you could find them for half the price considering they wouldn't need to travel so far.

You can still buy P. insigne that is locally grown quite easily and in abundance, and sometimes you will find historic hybrids as well. But there is no production of modern hybrids on the island.

Sadly most of them arrive bruised or damaged by the time they get here, or they are damaged by rough handling on arrival. I always keep an eye out for any especially good ones and pick up one or two new ones each year, but I do prefer labels as well!

 

[Justin]

Do they still grow thousands of Paph insigne in Madeira? I was reminded of this old thread. The pictures are mindblowing:

https://www.slippertalk.com/threads/madeira-–-home-of-the-slipper-orchids.19044/

 

[Bailey Hale]

Do they still grow thousands of Paph insigne in Madeira? I was reminded of this old thread. The pictures are mindblowing:

https://www.slippertalk.com/threads/madeira-–-home-of-the-slipper-orchids.19044/

Of course! They are still very popular here. You see pots of them on doorsteps all over the island and cut stems are quite available and affordable. One large cut flower orchid grower has recently closed but it seems there are still many others producing. They could hardly be easier to grow in this climate.

 

[GuRu]

............... It appears to be the same clone every time you see it. (Would it kill them to label the orchids in Europe?).............

Bailey, these plants are not made for long living and therefore a printed tag makes too much work (if the producer gets only a small part of the price you have to pay in the end) and interests only a tiny part of the buyers.
Just my thoughts.

 

[Bailey Hale]

Bailey, these plants are not made for long living and therefore a printed tag makes too much work (if the producer gets only a small part of the price you have to pay in the end) and interests only a tiny part of the buyers.
Just my thoughts.

You have a point. I suppose the majority of them die within their first year of sale.

 

[Happypaphy7]

You still see many hundreds of complex hybrids for sale in Funchal for Christmas, and I am quite certain they are almost all grown in Germany and the Netherlands, despite the fact that we have the ideal climate to produce them here on the island. Madeira should be exporting them to the north, not the other way around! It is odd that you can't find them in Germany. I would think you could find them for half the price considering they wouldn't need to travel so far.

You can still buy P. insigne that is locally grown quite easily and in abundance, and sometimes you will find historic hybrids as well. But there is no production of modern hybrids on the island.

Sadly most of them arrive bruised or damaged by the time they get here, or they are damaged by rough handling on arrival. I always keep an eye out for any especially good ones and pick up one or two new ones each year, but I do prefer labels as well!

The ones I saw were in perfect conditions and so I thought they were grown locally.
I was quite pleasantly surprised to see lots of insigne with multiple flowers per pot that many homes had on their front yard and stairs.

 

[Walter Meshaka]

Does anyone have an ID on this hybrid. It is quite common in Europe, presumably being produced in the Netherlands or Germany. It appears to be the same clone every time you see it. (Would it kill them to label the orchids in Europe?)

We see lots of them here in Madeira each year, but they aren't locally produced. I bought this one 2 years ago with 3 blooms, it had 4 last year, and will have 5 this year. I do nearly nothing to it. It just hangs out by the back door and gets fed if I remember. It's super vigorous and easy and puts on a good show. I may give it a bigger pot this year and I'm afraid to see what it will do! I think it's about to bust the pot currently.

I know it's almost impossible to identify most of the mass market complex hybrids you see for sale, but this one is distinctive enough. I have a growing appreciation for aggressively easy growers and bloomers and I want to use some of this vigor in my breeding.

Thanks!
View attachment 51392View attachment 51393

Maybe worth the detective work to hunt down the grower and distributor. It's absolutely beautiful.

 

[Bailey Hale]

The ones I saw were in perfect conditions and so I thought they were grown locally.
I was quite pleasantly surprised to see lots of insigne with multiple flowers per pot that many homes had on their front yard and stairs.

I have only been here 2 years but I hear that there used to be at least 2 more orchid nurseries on the island that have since closed, so maybe they were producing at a higher level in the past. Honestly if they would just import them in low bud and let them develop here the results would be far superior, but it's easier to just bring them in almost in full flower.

There is still one old orchid nursery here, but they don't do much with Paphs and they don't have much for sale. A large cut orchid grower also just went out of business. They sold off their stock of Paphs, which were mostly Paph. Invincible from what I hear. I did buy a few hundred traditional antique clay pots from them but it is still sad to see these old businesses close to make room for development.

I talk about starting an orchid nursery here someday, but if I am smart I'll just keep it a serious hobby!

Here are some pots of P. insigne and King Arthur that I picked up last year from yet another orchid business that was closing. It was run by a nice old lady that kept a couple hundred pots behind her house for cut flower sales but it was getting to be more than she could keep up with. The tradition seems safe for now but I do worry about the local production long term.