Phrag. exstaminodium and Phrag. popowii

Both Phrag. exstaminodium and Phrag. popowii (aka warscewiczii) were in bloom, so I took pictures of both for comparison.

Phrag. exstaminodium 'Extraordinary':






Phrag. popowii 'Dark River':






Both side by side:


The main difference between the 2, besides Phrag. exstaminodium lacking a staminodal shield, is the stance of the petals. On Phrag. popowii they are flatter, while on exstaminodium they kind of come out at an angle, shielding the pouch (almost like they are protecting the pouch opening, as the flower lacks the staminodal shield). In popowii the petals hang down behind the pouch, as in exstanimodium they hang down next to the pouch. The pouch color of Phrag. popowii tends to be darker and more saturated compared to exstaminodium. And finally Phrag. exstaminodium self pollinates, while popowii does not. This is due to both pollinia touching the stigma in the exstaminodium flower.

Robert

Both are awsome!!!!!! WOW

that is nice to be able to see both of them

Thanx for the info.

Well done!

Fantastic!! :clap:

Awesome!!

Have you noticed any significant culturing differences?

Those are 2 of the most beautiful phrags I have ever seen !!! My jaw is still on the floor :drool::drool:!! Do you sell these ?

Fantastic!

speechless!!

They are just gorgeous!! :clap:

Very impressive, thanks for sharing!

I didn't realize these two species were so closely alike. I can't help but wonder if ex started out as popowii, and somehow evolved away from it.

good explanation. they are both awsum.

Very nice. good photos.

very super

This is awesome Robert! Thanks for the comparison.

-Ernie

Nice flowers, comparison was top notch. It was easy to see what you where referring to with the petal stances.

super pics of 2 great phrags Robert!!!! the 2 close-ups are most useful!!! Jean

Gorgeous! Very nice specimens Robert, I'm glad to finally see other extaminodium photos who well match the first description of the specie. I do really like both and happy to see them side by side too... Just by curiosity, do you have the parentage of it and the petals length?

I'm still waiting from my second attempt to get information about my questions concerning both species we had on the taxonomy thread (http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10081), but nothing yet, a big silence?

Gilda said:

Those are 2 of the most beautiful phrags I have ever seen !!! My jaw is still on the floor :drool::drool:!! Do you sell these ?

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We are sold out of Phrag. popowii (but we will have more coming in the near future). We do have Phrag. exstaminodium for sale:
http://www.orchidweb.com/detail.aspx?ID=2033

SlipperFan said:

I didn't realize these two species were so closely alike. I can't help but wonder if ex started out as popowii, and somehow evolved away from it.

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Yes, I think they are very closely related and at one time were indeed the same species. Some taxonomists even still consider them the same species, but think they are just varieties of each other. I heard where they grow in nature they are separated from the true popowii by a mountain rim. So on one side of the mountain rim you find popowii, and on the other side exstaminodium. I think the exstaminodium plants at one point did mutate from the regular form, but were able to maintain them selves because they self pollinate.

Phrag-Plus said:

Gorgeous! Very nice specimens Robert, I'm glad to finally see other extaminodium photos who well match the first description of the specie. I do really like both and happy to see them side by side too... Just by curiosity, do you have the parentage of it and the petals length?

I'm still waiting from my second attempt to get information about my questions concerning both species we had on the taxonomy thread (http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10081), but nothing yet, a big silence?

Click to expand...

Jerry got a flask of seedlings years ago from the same source that some other exstaminodiums came into the US. This was the only plant that survived from those seedlings. At the moment I can't remember where he got them from, but when he gets back from his trip I will ask him. The petal length of the Phrag. exstaminodium is 60 cm at the moment, but I know last year it was close to 80 cm; it was longer than most of the popowii's we have here at the greenhouse.

When I have some more time I will read your other thread about the Taxonomy of esxtaminodium and give you some feedback.

Robert