LIght Orientation

[masaccio]

My Prince Edward of York has begun to bloom. Single growth, three flowers. Very exciting for me. However, it is apparent that the pouch on the first flower is malformed, sort've cast off to the side. The second flower looks normal, and the third isn't open enough to tell. The only thing I did was move the plant four or so inches forward to be more directly under my lights thinking that the spike would develop straighter. I can't think of anything else that would have caused this. I guess I've underestimated the effect that even slight lighting changes can have on developing buds. Will post picture(s) later when spike development is complete. Otherwise, I'm happy with my first PEOY. It's also my first long-sepalled orchid.

 

[Ray]

The elongated parts are the petals, not the sepals.

In slippers, the lateral components and the “pouch” are the petals. The “hood” is the dorsal sepal, and the other two are usually fused into a synsepal.

 

[masaccio]

Thanks. I know. I was just tired.

 

[masaccio]

The way these petals present and the word "sepals" seem to suggest each other poetically; sepals, seeping, weeping, dripping... It reminds me of the poem "Orchids" by Roethke, from his 1948 volume, The Lost Son. I happened to discover it as a song by Ned Rorem. Wonderful poem characterizing the more alien aspects of orchids. Not long. Check it out.

Poem 'Orchids', by Theodore Roethke