Complex Paph hybrids / bulldog Paphs... why?

[smartie2000]

Symmetry is also a big thing for me too. I didn't like the first bloom of one of my paphs as much because the asymmetrical dorsal sepal kept bothering me.

I think I figured out why bulldog complexes aren't so attractive to many species loving people. There are no gaps in between the sepals and petals because they have become so wide. So wide that petals and sepals can overlap. That's just unnatural for the most paph species.

Paph maudiaes, no matter how wide the petals get still have gaps.

Maybe it's because I'm too young to have seen a paph corsage. I've seen other orchids used in weddings before in corsages, hair, cakes, etc... Dends, phals, cattleyas, and cymbidiums are typically used. Dends, phals, cattleyas, and cymbidiums are regarded as the elegant/pretty orchids, and they shoot more than one bloom per spike, so one bloom costs less.
Are paphs too unusual/unelegant looking for a corsage nowadays? Paphs do have a unique look, which we slipperorchid people love, but I'm not sure if the general public would demand for them for a wedding. (My mom doesn't have a taste for paphs, but she grows other orchids.) Or maybe they are too costly because they only give a single bloom for each growth. Maybe I'll have a wedding with paphs one day...($$$ I'll need many white paphs...more expensive, harder to germinate, slower to grow than other colours I believe$$$)
Nice corsages Sue.

 

[Heather]

Are paphs too unusual/unelegant looking for a corsage nowadays? Paphs do have a unique look, which we slipperorchid people love, but I'm not sure if the general public would demand for them for a wedding. (My mom doesn't have a taste for paphs, but she grows other orchids.) Or maybe they are too costly because they only give a single bloom for each growth. Maybe I'll have a wedding with paphs one day...

I also kind of wonder (and have wondered before) if women just don't tend to be as attracted to paphs as other orchids (hence they might not wish them to be involved in their weddings). Men are the overwhelming majority here...

 

[kentuckiense]

At my hypothetical wedding I fully intend on wearing a rothschildianum.

 

[gonewild]

At my hypothetical wedding I fully intend on wearing a rothschildianum.

Do you think your hypothetical wife will wait for it to bloom? oke:

 

[kentuckiense]

Do you think your hypothetical wife will wait for it to bloom? oke:

I'm pretty sure that's actually a pro instead of a con!

"Sorry honey, the roth still isn't spiking!"

 

[Heather]

I'm pretty sure that's actually a pro instead of a con!

"Sorry honey, the roth still isn't spiking!"

LOLOL!!!!!
Nice excuse!

 

[smartie2000]

Heather just made me realize I talk about paphs and other orchids to mostly guys (or at least I think they are men) on these orchid forums....BTW, I'm a guy too and my dad liked the first paph I bloomed. It was a really dark vini. My mom didn't say much. I guess its true then...Maybe she will like the pink paph magic lantern thats showing signs of going into bud.
I don't think they show everyones gender on these forums do they? Now I'm really off topic.

 

[Heather]

Not at all off topic!
You know, Paphs were very popular in the early days of collecting and women were NOT allowed to grow orchids because they were deemed too sexual. I often wonder if (why?) the Paphs are not as well loved by women and if it has anything to do with their relatively phallic nature. There. I said it.

 

[smartie2000]

oh i never knew that one....

 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

I wonder if women would have been allowed to grow Nepenthes clipeata back then oke:

EDIT: I'll save you a trip to The Google
http://home.arcor.de/j.danz/N_clipeata.html
(pretty tame compared to what it looks like in person!)

Jon

 

[smartie2000]

Lol:rollhappy:
Nepenthes are hard to grow. I can't the humidity high enough. I disagree with Heather's phallic paphs idea...I never thought of them that way. Since we are doing this, the labellum of Cyp. acuale looks like....(what am I allowed to say here)

 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

I agree, the lip of a cattleya and the pouch of acaule look much more suggestive than any Paph. venustum pouch. I think Heather is talking about a "lower phallic" part that she sees in the pouch of some of them.

Jon

 

[Heather]

Yes, but you guys are GUYS. Hence my point. I'm not talking about YOUR perceptions of Paphs, I'm talking about the average woman's perception (and I'm not it either so I cannot comment, really...)

Nepenthes, yeah, I cannot imagine we'd have been allowed to look at that one...

 

[smartie2000]

Orchids are sexy plants, they are an metaphor for sex. They have been described that way many many times. Some serious orchid hobbyists seem to replace sex with orchids(I might be very wrong). Some cultures also believe eating orchids would boost men's sex drive. Even female authors have used them as a metaphor for sex in their literature. (How many times to I get to say sex before I get banned. Sorry I offended anyone. I cannot say that word on the other forum I post on. Please don't ban me. BTW who is the moderator for this forum?)

I really never viewed orchids these ways yet or grown them for those reasons. I view them as unique, exotic and beautiful and sometimes strange plants. I think its the bilateral symmetry they have, rather than radial symmetry in all these common everyday flowers we see. Plus the column(rather than stamen and pistil), labellum and diversity in shapes and colours is why we grow them. I would give my date a bouquet of dends rather than roses cuz im weird.

Nepenthes are phallic. The first time I saw it, it already hit me. I have a Nepenthes sanguinea, that looks horrible because of low humidity. Its got no pitchers and brown leafs. I will have to set up something for it. Maybe my old 10 gallon aquarium.

I read somewhere Cyp. acuale was named for female parts, during my reseach on cypripedium cultivation. Its labellum...I'm never growing that one, thank God they are difficult to grow. Some people love its labellum though. Anyone good with latin here?

I'm way off topic now. I think we squeezed everything out of complex paphs now.

 

[Sue]

I agree, the lip of a cattleya and the pouch of acaule look much more suggestive than any Paph. venustum pouch.

Hence my feeling that someone should cross venustum with micranthum, and register it as Paph. Elephantitis.

Why hasn't anybody done this yet?!

Perhaps I should write Jason Fischer directly. He might hear my pleas . . .

 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

You'll soon realize we can't keep a thread on topic for more than a day or two
Don't be crude about it and no one should mind, this history is just another facet of the hobby. If in doubt, just search the site for Bulbophyllum vaginatum.

Even the word Orchid comes from the latin word for testicle...and if you've ever seen Orchis tubers you'll know why. Even funnier, they make a dessert from these tubers called "Fox Testicle Ice Cream"...I think it loses something in the translation.

I believe acaule means stalked in latin, referring to the short inflorescence but I could be wrong. Cypripedium means slipper and Cyprus(birthplace of Aphrodite). Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty so there is some link there.

Jon

 

[smartie2000]

Yes that Ice cream was what I was thinking of. Its supposed to be chewy, I wonder what it tastes like.
Man, Bulbophyllum vaginatum is the oddest looking thing, doesn't look like a orchid. (I know it is) And Orchis look like...
What other orchids can we name lol.

 

[smartie2000]

How come my sub name turned from bloom to pod?? hehe I didn't make my subname up, what should I call myself....

 

[NYEric]

It changes automatically depending on the number of your entries.

 

[eOrchids]

Nepenthes (CP) and Orchids are two very different plants. Though they come from very similiar environments, they are very differenr from one another!

My perception of the complex / bulldog paph is that they are alright; though I might get one. I really don't see much in them except a large flower! But with the multi floral paphs, there is something complex about them. The way how one plant can get multiple flowers on a single stem seems more mind blogging than a large flower.

Also N. Clipeata is like the Paph. Roth of the Carnivorous Plant World but it's a lot harder to get!