Paphiopedilum hookerae var. volonteanum ‘Big Blue’ AM/AOS

[DrLeslieEe]

Awarded AM (81 points) today to Andrew of Roehampton Orchids at our monthly judging.

What stood out was the intense color and stance. The small dorsal and overall smaller size reduced the scoring.

Congrats to the owner!

 

[Tom-DE]

A great looking flower for this species...congrats to the owner!

 

[Ozpaph]

very nicely coloured

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Congrats indeed to Andrew. That is gorgeous. How many meters tall was the spike ()?

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Congrats indeed to Andrew. That is gorgeous. How many meters tall was the spike ()?

34.5 cm!

 

[tnyr5]

But... it's purple...

 

[Tom-DE]

34.5 cm!

What does the plant look like? I believe the true volonteanum has purple markings on the leaves and much longer spike..., but I am no expert.
Here is the photo of true volonteanum(by Orchid Limited):

 

[SelectOrchids]

What does the plant look like? I believe the true volonteanum has purple markings on the leaves and much longer spike..., but I am no expert.
Here is the photo of true volonteanum(by Orchid Limited):

Actually the wide leafed ones without much red in the front are the hybrid of hookerae x volonteanum, that was produced in Hawaii quite a while ago... They have a leaf pattern intermediate between hookerae and volonteanum.

Those were released as volonteanum by many resellers, very hard to tell apart from the flower only except that they tend to have the staminode flat, as opposed to pure volonteanum that always has a bent staminode. Is there any photo of the awarded plant by itself?

 

[DrLeslieEe]

This was as much of the plant that I took pics of. The guy holding it is Andrew, owner of plant and Roehampton Orchids.

 

[Tom-DE]

Thank you, Leslie. It is a very nice flower regardless.... It is a mess out there...I bought a volonteanum but the plant camed as hookerae/volonteanum...I guess the vendor wanted to cover all angles.