Paphiopedilum rothschildianum

I feel like I've been transported to a magical place where orchids grow in abundance, and in the most fantastic fashion. I have a Paphiopedilum rothschildianum which has been unproductive for a year or two. It never was entirely happy - even when it did flower, I'd get one or two blooms. This year however, the plant was repotted, and left on my deck in partial sun. Apparently, that was the key, as I got two spikes, one with two flowers and another with three. Here is a view of the whole plant.


Here is a better view of the flowers. They remind me of an old-time villain with a handlebar moustache. I'm sure the shape has evolved as a way to attract pollinating insects. Those long petals must really sway in the breeze.


And here is a single flower. They are really large, and have a very complex structure.


In profile, the flower looks quite alien, like some strange insect leg was grafted onto a flower.


One fine detail of the petals is that they have tiny black hairs going off in various directions. Right-sized to be noticed by small insects, even if they are a bit tricky for us humans to notice (and photograph).


Lastly, here is part of the flower where you can clearly see the pollen. In the center of the photo, notice a small oval structure with a red-orange rim. That is the pollen. Normally, an insect climbs into the flower pouch, which has a very waxy inner surface. Because of the small opening, the insect cannot easily fly out. The only method of egress is to climb up the rear inside surface of the pouch, which is rough, and not waxy. That path first takes the insect past the female part of the flower, the stigma. Then as the insect climbs higher, it passes the pollen, which adheres to the body of the insect. When said insect visits the next flower, the pollen is likely to be transferred to the stigma of that new flower. In this way, the orchid makes it much more likely that it will not be self-fertilized, thus improving the gene pool. Really a remarkable flower!

Overachievers

This has been an amazing orchid season for me. My Paphiopedilum has gone to extreme lengths to impress. The plant has five spikes, and one of those has two flowers! There might have been another spike with two flowers, but only one flower developed properly. Still - six flowers from one plant, and all open at the same time. Amazing.

In addition, last time I repotted this plant, there was a baby that got disconnected, so I potted that plant up, and it has made a flower too. So, here are mother and daughter.

And, here is a close-up of the six flowers of the mother plant:

Not to be outdone, my white Phalaenopsis got in on the act, with roughly a dozen blooms. Since I individually carry my plants down to the basement once a week for water and fertilizer; this plant is a real handful to maneuver, without breaking the spike. But, so far I've been sufficiently gentle that no harm has come.

Here is an extreme close up of the center of the flower; while these flowers are certainly white, they have quite a bit of green in them. And from the back, they have traces of pink/purple.

Last but not least, I've finally gotten my Amboinensis to flower - it had been sulking for a while. I love this plant; it has a strong citrus fragrance, and even with its five fairly diminutive flowers, it perfumes most of the main floor of the house.

And here is a close view of one of those flowers. It has a particularly long "nose", and the petal/sepal shape is quite different from the common Phalaenopsis hybrids.

And while there are no flowers open yet, my two "Dancing Dolls" Oncidiums have each begun making one spike apiece. It will be a month or so before we have flowers from them.

The Saga is Complete

As you may remember, I started raising some orchids from seed. I did this because the parent plant had a virus, and while viruses are incurable in orchids, the theory goes that orchids created from the seeds of said orchid will be virus-free. At least if you allow the seed pods to completely dry, rather than using so-called "green pod" seeds.

Anyway, the orchids I've been raising from seed have matured. It is now time to test them to see if they are virus free. And the answer is... YES!

Agdia makes an easy-to-use home virus test kit. You typically take about 150 mg of plant tissue, place it in a special bag containing a buffer solution, crush the tissue, and insert a test stick. Then, after 30 minutes, you examine the test stick, and read the results. Here is a photo of one of the test strips:

The bag contains the crushed tissue and fluid. The bags have an abrasive plastic mesh, which is what you use to crush the tissue. The test strip is inserted around 1/4" into the fluid. Notice that there is one red line visible on the strip. That is the control line, and it must be present for the test to be valid. There are no other red lines visible on the strip, so this plant is clean - no virus detected.

Sadly, another plant of mine, a "Sharry Baby" Oncidium, did test positive. Here is what that looks like:

Notice that in this case, there are two red lines visible. The line closest to the bottom indicates that this plant is infected with the Cymbidium Mosaic virus (CymMV). I don't feel like going on another five year mission to create clean babies from this plant, so I'll simply have to destroy it, buy a new one, and hope that it is virus-free.

But the bottom line is that the process of raising orchids from mature seed pods to eliminate viruses definitely does work. At least it did for me. Quite an adventure!

Variations on a Theme

The "baby" orchids have made a lot of progress. This spring I have three separate plants in bloom at the same time. The interesting thing is that since they were grown from seeds, they are not identical clones. There are some very definite differences between them.

This one started out with a brighter yellow, but as the flowers matured, they became very pale yellow.

In the next one, the yellow is much brighter, and the pink/red spots are less distinct.

And lastly, we have one with much more intense red spotting.

So far, I've seen flowers from four of the dozen or so plants that I've kept. I'll be fascinated to see what else emerges. And no, I'm not expecting Audrey...