Excited, just bought my second Paph

[Monica Penders]

This is funny because it wasn't a planned purchase, but rather an impulsive one.
I've been wanting to get another Paph, as I think they're really cool. My Pinocchio is my favorite orchid. So I've been looking at Paph's online, at a grower's website here in the Netherlands. Thinking I'll get one next year. But then last week I walked into the local supermarket, and they always have the standard Phalaenopsis there, but then my eyes fell on something unusual: I couldn't believe they were selling Paphiopedilum (all the same one, green/white flower). This is the first time ever I see this. And it was so nice looking, came with a really nice decorative pot. At that moment I couldn't get it, so I thought I'll come by later.

Just a couple of days later it there was only one left!!!! Wow, this was popular. I had to get my hands on the last one, and then I discovered that the stem was broken.

I still decided to get it though, I just couldn't let it there. I figured in time I hope I'll get another flower, and just the leaves in themselves are really beautiful. I think it was a bit dehydrated, I see some wrinkles on the leaves, but I'm hopeful with a little TLC it will be all right. It wasn't expensive fortunately, otherwise I wouldn't have done it.

The tag just says Orchid, doesn't say what kind it is though. But I suppose for the supermarket to sell it it's probably some sort of common hybrid, right?

Anyway, the flower looks gorgeous too. Can't wait to get another one.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

That's a good find, the leaves look very healthy. Your Paph is likely a hybrid and it's one of the Maudiae types. That's an umbrella term for certain species and hybrids of species within the Barbata group, but it's a non-sepcific ID. It may be a common hybrid, I can't really say for sure. The thing to note with Paphs is that they aren't cloned on a super massive scale like Phals and other genera, so generally they are produced en masse for the houseplant market via seed propagation. Without a label, the ID of seed propagated plants is difficult to impossible to discern unless you happened to choose a very distinct hybrid or species, and even then the ID might be contentious.

 

[Guldal]

Congrats with your new acquisition! I go with happyrotter: Paph. Hybrid Maudiae-type.

Paph. Maudiae is one of the classic paph.hybrids - originally made by crossing the albinistic forms of P. callosum and P. lawrenceanum (P. callosum fma. viridiflorum or sanderae x P. lawrenceanum fma. hyeanum). It's often quite difficult to discern whether further hybridization has taken place - but maybe, if you post a picture of the plant in flower, next time it blooms, some of the really sharp hybride-nerds on this site might be able to help you with further identification. P. Maudiae can, by the way, also be found in highly coloured 'Vinicolor'-varieties.