Koopowitz also adds, in his Tropical Slipper Orchids book,page 141, hirsutissimum not only has a hairier stem but its also shorter(approx 6 inches) then what is found in esquirolei (approx. 12 inches). Another interesting fact he mentions is the length in time it takes for a seed capsule to mature on hirsutissimum, 15 to 18 months where esquirolei is the standard 6-9 months. This I've not heard before.
I will have to self my plant is what happens.
Differences can be perceived at any level (even within a population). Whether or not you end up with reproductive isolation to ensure discreet populations is another matter.
Humans of all different colors (which are part of their genome) interbreed all across the world and they are all **** sapiens.
Just because a big fast plant growing at the bottom of the hill is bigger and faster than the small slow plant growing on the top of the hill, doesn't mean they are separate genetically isolated species.
I actually bred my Andy's plant 3 times
The first time (selfing) capsule took 8 months.
The second time I crossed to flowers with pollen from JB in Canada. Those capsules took 5 and 8 months respectively.
Just because my Andy's plant is more like a hirsutisimum than my Carolina Orchids plant doesn't necessarily make it a hirsut. The tag actually says esqurolii. But it seems to be illustrative that these physical metrics we are using to define these two "species" seems to be pretty worthless.
I have not bred my Carolina O "esquirolii" like plant, so maybe I'll self it and see if its even faster.
Rick, your points are well taken and I think accepted in general. I grow my plants simply for the love of them, and am not overly concerned with strict identification. (I might draw the line at lumping roths with niveum because they both have pouches) I just remember how there was a splitting, lumping, and resplitting of dianthum and parishii based on hairiness of flower spike, time to maturation of pods, flower count and a few other minor details. We now have two established and currently accepted species. Who is to say how things will play out here, I am not learned enough to be involved in the discussion, but not adverse to throwing a spanner into the works on occasion. I must say that my plants look sufficiently different that even when not in flower, I have no difficulty in telling them apart?
