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."