Polystachya longiscapa

[naoki]

I got this plant from Afri orchids in 2019. It is an interesting species because it is one of the "early-branching" Polystachya spp., and it is a narrow endemic species. The inflorescence is kind of too long from my grow tent. Here is a link to my blog post.

 

[GuRu]

Pretty and cute flowers .

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

It certainly is well named! The flower looks much more like a Dendrobium than a Polystachya. Nice to see you posting again.

 

[GuRu]

.........The flower looks much more like a Dendrobium .............

These were my toughts too, not only the flowers but the whole plant.

 

[BrucherT]

very exciting to see something so unique! Thank you.

 

[naoki]

I didn't think about It, but it looks similar to some Dendrobium. I went to look at the relationships, and interestingly they are fairly far apart.

 

[cnycharles]

Interesting! Looks similar to the p tayloriana I had before the turn of millennium that died when squirrel chewed into the big clump. Haven’t been able to find another

 

[naoki]

Interesting! Looks similar to the p tayloriana I had before the turn of millennium that died when squirrel chewed into the big clump. Haven’t been able to find another

When P. longiscarpa was described, I believe the author was comparing P. longiscarpa to Polystachya dendrobiflora (= P. tayloriana = P. flexuosa), and said P. longiscarpa is a larger version of P. dendrobiflora. So you have a good insight! P. dendrobiflora is also an early-branching Polystachya.

 

[Happypaphy7]

The inflorescence looks like it's popping out of a dead stem almost! How interesting!

 

[naoki]

The inflorescence looks like it's popping out of a dead stem almost! How interesting!

Actually, it is. I think the tip got damaged, and it made the secondary spike close to the tip.