Paph exul ?

[Leo Schordje]

I picked this plant up as a nbs seedling from a vendor in California. It was labelled Paph insigne at the time, the comment was that it was not an ordinary insigne, that something was different about it. I believe these were distributed to a quite a number of people, so some of you may have seedlings from the same batch.

Well it bloomed, and I feel pretty comfortable calling this plant Paph exul. I have bloomed several exul over the years, and in every floral characteristic it seems to be Paph exul, but it is the most robust, tallest vegetatively of any exul I have ever owned. Plant size is more like insigne, but otherwise it looks like exul. My previous experience with exul is that it is a pretty compact species. However, it is seldom talked about as being 'small' in the literature, so I suspect that my previous exul were simply immature plants, grown in less than optimal conditions. I grow intermediate in summer to cool in winter. P. exul is reported to prefer warm temps most of the year, so I may simply not be getting full size out of my other plants.

So take a look, let me know if you think I'm right or wrong. It is in a 4 inch pot, so total height to dorsal tip is about 18 inches.

 

[John M]

Leo, I've grown exul and considered it one of my favourite species....although, I don't have one at the moment. 'Must change that! I've also done a LOT of looking at photos of exul on the Internet and found there to be a wide range of variety in the "look" of the different clones; barring the obviously mislabelled plants. IMHO, I'd say you've got an exul. The vendor probably was unfamiliar with exul and once insigne came to mind, he never questioned it again. It'd be interesting to know if his stock plant came to him without a name tag and he had to identify it. Or, if he's just never looked at the tag and simply always (incorrectly), thought of that plant as insigne. I'd have no problem changing the tag to exul. Like I said, there is a lot of variety in the "look" of the flowers posted on the Internet. Also, Zephyrus Orchids had a superior plant of exul offered for sale a couple years ago. They had a photo of it next to a normal, common quality clone. Theirs was huge, with excellent colour and form, in comparison....probably a 4N: yet, there was no doubt it was still a pure exul.

 

[Shiva]

I agree with JohnM. The ventral sepal is very much like exul.

 

[emydura]

The dorsal and sepal sure look like exul. But the leaves look nothing like mine. My leaves are much smaller and much more rigid. They certainly don't flop over. Mine also doesn't have any red colouring at the base of the leaves either.

David

 

[Pete]

thats by far the biggest beefiest exul plant ive ever seen if its an exul

 

[Shadow]

But the leaves look nothing like mine. My leaves are much smaller and much more rigid. They certainly don't flop over. Mine also doesn't have any red colouring at the base of the leaves either.

David

Agree. The leaves of my exul are exactly the same as David has described his.

 

[Leo Schordje]

Thanks John.

David, the color on the leaf base is unusual. My other exul have no color at the leaf bases. By it's self I don't think the presence or absence of color at the leaf base is significant. The floppy foliage is most likely due in part to my growing this plant in low light. It had gotten shuffled off to the side where the appletonianums and hookerae are sulking in my shadows. I know exul would like it more rothschildianum bright. I suspect that in high light the leaves will stand up. I think if the flower agrees with exul, I will have to label it as exul. I certainly don't think it is insigne. It may be an unusual exul, unless someone has a different candidate? Are there any named varieties of exul?

 

[biothanasis]

Lovely :clap:

 

[etex]

It's a super exul!! Very nice!

 

[SlipperFan]

Great dorsal, Leo. If this plant needs more light, you had better not tell it since it bloomed with lower light. Of course, with higher light, the bloom might even be better.

 

[SlipperKing]

I guess it's exul. I can't find anything that proves it's not. The red at the base of the plant is my only concern.

 

[paphjoint]

hmm looks like a cross exul x insigne or vice versa

 

[JeanLux]

the foliage of the exul plant I got about 2 years ago looks very similar to Leo's one, very floppy! Unfortunately the plant did not yet flower! I' ll try a pic today! Jean

 

[Leo Schordje]

So far,

2 votes for definitely exul (me & John M)
3 votes for maybe not exul
1 vote for definitely not exul, rather that it is likely a hybrid.

question, does insigne have red flush to its leaf base?
by the way, the photo Jay Pfahl has on his site for insigne is really one of the varieties of villosum, so it can not be used as a standard for insigne.

 

[JeanLux]

the foliage of the exul plant I got about 2 years ago looks very similar to Leo's one, very floppy! ..... I' ll try a pic today! Jean

here it is ; greatest leaf span = 70cm (+/- 23 inch?) Jean

 

[Rick]

My exul, foliage wise has pretty stiff upright leaves. I do grow it bright and hot though. I'm still at work, and can't recall red at the leaf bases.


The use of Epsom salts really increased leaf lenght this year by a good 20%, but I don't think the largest span is anywhere near 20".

It's got a spike on it now too (although its really about 1-2 months early If I remember correctly) and several other growths in sheath (normal for this time of year). It may be just a clonal difference, but the flower stem on mine is presently strongly pubescent and dark purple, and does not get much taller than the plant. At full extension there is some green pigment showing between the purple hair. I've never seen an exul spike as tall as yours (stretching for light??), but the spike length on my insigne is never incredibly long either. This reminds me of some of the hair splitting stuff concerncing hirsutisimum vs esquirolei.

There might be some issues in the photography, but this flower seems a bit greener and more washed out than my exul.

From general comments on this site I haven't heard of too many people doing well with exul (or flowering it) under cool shaded conditions anyway, so maybe a dash of insigne could have put a little hybrid vigor into this plant to get it to do well in your set of growing conditions????

Don't know if I have a firm opinion on this one Leo.

 

[Rick]

here it is ; greatest leaf span = 70cm (+/- 23 inch?) Jean

70 cm is 27.5 inches. That's a very big plant.

My biggest growth I just measured has a leaf span of 18", and definitely no red at the base of the plants.

 

[Pete]

i agree with rick also, my exul leaves have very stiff, narrower, upright-ish leaves

 

[emydura]

Here is my exul plant. I bought it about 2 years ago. It is growing well but I still haven't seen a flower. Maybe this coming autumn. As you can see it has a much different growth habit to Leo's plant. The pot would be 10cm wide.

Rick brings up a good point which I was thinking myself. It is not easy to flower exul in low light.

David

 

[smartie2000]

Could it have been a mutation of insigne that caused the synesepal to be bigger? We have seen other paph species (and hybrids) with mutations that cause huge synesepals, though it seems uncommon.