Grammatophyllum scriptum 'Dwarf'

[mrhappyrotter]

Grammatophyllum scriptum 'Dwarf' is supposed to be a naturally diminutive form of this otherwise large growing species. I'm posting this because it came up in conversation in another thread, and I realized maybe folks would be interested in seeing it.

I've only had this for a year, I got it from Tarzane group last March. But it has bloomed numerous times already. This is probably the 3rd or fourth round of spikes, though this is by far the largest blooming it has put out so far. These actually started opening around Christmas, so some of the flowers are just now starting to fade.

The flowers are fragrant, but not much to speak of. It's okay-ish but hard to describe and I don't notice it unless I really put my nose up to the flowers.

I've read that these "dwarf" forms don't actually stay this size, but then I've also read that they absolutely do remain quite small. I suppose time will tell. This one has maybe 8 - 10 growths in a 3 inch (7.5cm) pot. once it finishes blooming, I'm going to pot it in a cedar basket. The last round of bulbs are larger than the previous ones, so I'm going to cross my fingers on this and hope it doesn't eventually grow to normal size because I definitely don't have room for something that large which has warm growing requirements. Indoor space is limited.

 

[big923cattleya]

Well, a dwarf Grammatophyllum would be nice but tall flower spikes are produced because of where they are native to, Africa largely, out in the savannah’s!! The spikes have to grow taller to been seen over the grass. So the pollinators find them by sight, maybe not so much by fragrance.
Just my opinion.

Maybe a few species grow out in the open amongst shorter plants. Perhaps there could be dwarf varieties there? But in a tall grass environment and you grow smaller, maybe natural selection might kick in. If your spike does not get tall enough to escape the grasses, how do the pollinators locate that spike in amongst all the foliage?

 

[NYEric]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Arne]

This species is from South East Asia, not Africa. The flowers look rather similar to those of Ansellia though, which is African

 

[big923cattleya]

Cool.

 

[Ozpaph]

it looks small to me

 

[Austin Creek]

I believe at least one of the dwarf forms currently on the market is a mericloning mutation.

 

[Morja]

Very neat!

 

[mrhappyrotter]

it looks small to me

It is! My only hesitation is that over the years some folks have been pretty adamant that these "dwarf" varieties are simply precocious bloomers that take longer than normal to reach full, mature size. I've struggled to find anybody who has been growing one of them for years who can confirm that they stay this size, or at least stay remarkably smaller than the typical varieties.