Lance Birk
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This photo is the rarely seen P. lynniae, named after Lynn Wellenstein of An Tec Orchids, who very generously sent me two sib-selfed seedlings three years ago. I think this is a beautiful flower and I am very grateful for her gift. Lynn and her husband Bob also lent me the photos of the species for my recently revised paph book. If you look closely you can see colorful hairs at the top, backside of the horny projection on the staminode. I do not recall seeing this before on any paph species.
Edit: Looking more carefully through my slides, I see these same hairs on most all my P. lowii species slides.
Both plants have been steady growers for me, in my uncontrolled greenhouse, and 2 winters ago they withstood temps down to 30-33 degrees for nearly five nights in January. I grow them about a half mile from the ocean, in a canyon where it remains cool during the year, although we do have a few times each year when the days can reach into the 90°s or more. Nights remain 60° or below in summer and we have reasonably good humidity for the California desert climate.
Except for a touch of fungus during the colder months, this has been an easy species to grow and, like most paphs, it produces a flower after the seventh leaf has formed. While the flowers are smallish, 3 inches across, so are my plants, and I expect them both to increase somewhat in size in the next year. Presently, each has produced multiple new growths.
Much like P. richardianum in plant habit, I do not expect the flowers or the plants of either species to reach the size of P. haynaldianum, or some of the P. lowii complex types, although stems on P. richardianum can easily reach 3 feet . While those flowers are slightly smaller than these, they are very beautiful and are quite striking, see the back cover of my paph book.
If you will examine flowers and plant habits of these similar-type Section Pardalopetalum species, especially the several different types of P. lowii, I would ask anyone contemplating the thought of crossing any of them together to consider the resulting confusion such crosses have already brought. If you need to ask, a quick search through this forum will reveal countless requests to identify suspect plants, many of which were crossed (and supposedly sib-crossed) with other similar-type species. Why sponsor chaos? (Isn't the RHS in full charge of that department?)
Edit: Looking more carefully through my slides, I see these same hairs on most all my P. lowii species slides.
Both plants have been steady growers for me, in my uncontrolled greenhouse, and 2 winters ago they withstood temps down to 30-33 degrees for nearly five nights in January. I grow them about a half mile from the ocean, in a canyon where it remains cool during the year, although we do have a few times each year when the days can reach into the 90°s or more. Nights remain 60° or below in summer and we have reasonably good humidity for the California desert climate.
Except for a touch of fungus during the colder months, this has been an easy species to grow and, like most paphs, it produces a flower after the seventh leaf has formed. While the flowers are smallish, 3 inches across, so are my plants, and I expect them both to increase somewhat in size in the next year. Presently, each has produced multiple new growths.
Much like P. richardianum in plant habit, I do not expect the flowers or the plants of either species to reach the size of P. haynaldianum, or some of the P. lowii complex types, although stems on P. richardianum can easily reach 3 feet . While those flowers are slightly smaller than these, they are very beautiful and are quite striking, see the back cover of my paph book.
If you will examine flowers and plant habits of these similar-type Section Pardalopetalum species, especially the several different types of P. lowii, I would ask anyone contemplating the thought of crossing any of them together to consider the resulting confusion such crosses have already brought. If you need to ask, a quick search through this forum will reveal countless requests to identify suspect plants, many of which were crossed (and supposedly sib-crossed) with other similar-type species. Why sponsor chaos? (Isn't the RHS in full charge of that department?)
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