My Paphs of subg. Paphiopedilum in 2023

[GuRu]

The 'starters' of the year are both reliable bloomer and are flowering again within the span of less than one year.
Paph. gratrixianum var. christensonianum is a very strong plant and a big clump .... the ladybird on top of one of the two flowers is the icing on the cake for me.

Paph. villosum var. villosum is at the moment the only variety of villosum in flowering size in my collection. I grow some more varieties of Paph. villosum but all need some time until I could expect a flower.

 

[Djthomp28]

Very nice starter for the year.

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Nice villosums Guru.

The second one might be var atratum?

 

[GuRu]

Nice villosums ....... might be var atratum?

There isn't much information in the net as well as in books about that varity ... does it exist or not ?
KEW Science doesn't mention such variety.
O. Gruss writes in his book 'Paphiopedilum Südostasiatische Frauenschuhe Band 2' on page 811 about P. villosum var. boxallii fma. atratum :
"Zwar ist im Handel gelegentlich die Form atratum zu finden, doch ist eine genaue Abtrennung gegenüber der typischen Form nicht klar, denn die Übergänge sind fließend."
in English "Indeed you can find form atratum in trade from time to time, but the exact separation from the typus form isn't clear and the transitions are fluent."

 

[GuRu]

This is what I bought as Paphiopedilum insigne fma. sanderianum. I say what I bought because on the one hand I'm not 100% sure or convinced it to be the pure species due to some traits that make me doubt like :
- the shape of the leaves .... they look in width and shape very Paph. villosum like
- the shape of the petals
- the green colour of the knob on the staminode
On the other hand I know that P. insigne is in all parts very variable.
So I would like to read what other members think.
I know, this isn't really P. insigne season but the last flowering was in October .... at the beginning of the 'insigne season'.

 

[JayeL]

Lovely flower. I don't think I would have questioned the label...

As mentioned, PI is variable, and IMHO I would have thought that this would fall within the normal variability.

JL

 

[Ozpaph]

love all three. the dorsal colour in the gratrix is wonderful