Phrag. mem garren weaver?

[l8dbug]

I recently purchased this orchid from orchids.com. It was in spike when I got it. I'm a windowsill grower, so though Phrags are my favorite, I've had to limit myself to orchids that tended to have a smaller growth habit. I figured this was a cross with pearcei; it would be smaller. I have a pearcei and although I've never seen a wallisii in person, I didn't think it was a huge plant. I figured it couldn be that big crossed with pearcei; I've seen grass bigger than pearcei.

When I got my plant in the mail, it was bigger than expected. The size of the plant threw me off a bit, but it was still a phrag so I loved it anyway. Now that the bud has opened I'm noticing something else strange. The flower color is off.

From what I've seen wallissi is a light colored flower and I KNOW pearcei is a light colored flower. This flower is not light colored. The pouch has some hints of red, and the petals don't have the typical ruffled sides of pearcei. The flower just opened today, maybe it will change over time? Does the color maybe lighten with age, or is my gut right and this is not as labeled? This looks more like a grande to me, but I am far from an expert.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

http://s267.photobucket.com/user/Lu...50354E06-4008-4413-B409-C4B6232F6E68.jpg.html

This shows the size difference compared to my other phrags. From left to right, ice princess, pearcei, the orchid in question, mayling nelson, and my ruby slippers that had a run in with a cat.

http://s267.photobucket.com/user/LuvLeeL8DBug/media/My Plants/IMG_6902.jpg.html

http://s267.photobucket.com/user/LuvLeeL8DBug/media/My Plants/IMG_6903.jpg.html

 

[mrhappyrotter]

The foliage certainly looks much larger than I would expect and much bigger than the Mem. Garren Weaver I've seen. I wonder if they got this mixed up with P. Mayling Nielson? Even the flower looks more consistent with MN than MGW.

You are correct that P. wallisii is a very compact growing plant and obvious so is P. pearcei. Flowers on both species are pale. Wallisii may have pinkish tones in the lip, but it'd be very unlikely to get the pouch color you're seeing in your hybrid in that last photo.

 

[l8dbug]

Now that I’m seriously looking at this plant I think it is definitely a wallisi cross but maybe with longifolium, not Pearcei. That would make it a p. Paul Eugene Conroy? I have a P. Mayling Nelson and this is a big girl compared to that. You can see in the photo with the plants comparing size.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Now that I’m seriously looking at this plant I think it is definitely a wallisi cross but maybe with longifolium, not Pearcei. That would make it a p. Paul Eugene Conroy? I have a P. Mayling Nelson and this is a big girl compared to that. You can see in the photo with the plants comparing size.

I'll trust your intuition on this. I just thought that third photo looked too dark to be P. pearcei x P. wallisii. It's hard to gauge the size from photos, so again I'll concede to your first hand experience. Given that, I have a very similar cross (equadorense x lindenii) (lindenii is essentially a consistently peloric sister species of wallisii). While my plant is still unbloomed and could potentially get larger before it flowers, it seems to be considerably smaller than the plant in your photos, albeit, that's hard to tell from looking at photos and without solid measurements. Additionally, given the vendor's muddy reputation, a misidentified plant is certainly not outside the realm of possibility.

 

[l8dbug]

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/...nts/E80C170B-2ABA-4175-B954-14DEA369CC71.jpeg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/...nts/66397D94-BFBB-484F-BDAA-B55BF2F5BF2E.jpeg

Well now that the flower has developed more I think it is safe to change the tag. This flower looks just like all the pictures of the conroy and Memoria Paul Eugene Conroy is listed as inspike on their website as well.

I’m not really happy with anything they sent me. They sent a instruction pamphlet that advised not to repot for 30 days or it might damage the plant. I think they advise that so that you won’t discover your plant has no roots. Everything I purchased had the tiniest roots and root loss.

 

[l8dbug]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, It does have the faintest smell of honeysuckle during the day.

 

[Phrag-Plus]

Usually crosses with pearcei and warszewiczianum (aka wallisii) are not toothed.
The tooth in the front of the pouch aperture is a characteristic of longifolium and vittatum crosses. It doesn’t look like a Paul Eugene Conroy to me neither…