Paph.helenae from China and Vietnam

[Yang]

Paph.helenae habitat in both China and Vietnam. And clones of different country shows different color of the flower. Chinese helenae carry a brighten yellow on it's dorsal and petals, and the long time the bloom last, the darker it's color. While vietnam's helenae always show an brown tune or lines on the pouch and petals or the whole flower looks greenish. And sometime carry a very red pouch. It's not until very recently the chinese helenae's habitat found by chinese botanists though its been on the flower market for a long time but with very limited quantity . And most heleane we saw or cultured , are from vietnam, mostly propogated by TaiWan nursery.

Chinese helenae (my favorite sp)

And some Vietnam helenaes

 

[Hien]

They are all very beautiful.
I hope you make separate breeding lines to emphasize the distinct features, and not mixing the colors.

 

[Candace]

I perfer the Chinese variety as well. Thanks for posting the different plants for comparison.

 

[Billie]

Nice to see - differences

guess this is like lowii and others maybe our nametags on speice paphs
need country of origin - this does happen on some I know but when the difference is so wide one can see why people get mixed up
thanks for photos Billie

 

[goldenrose]

Thanks Yang - I love the chinese helenae!

 

[jblanford]

Thanks for all the great information and beautiful photos. Jim.

 

[Sangii]

nice ! what about leaf size ? have seen some helenaes with much longer leaves than the ones we usually see, labeled as "helenae giant". Would these be from China or Vietnam ?

 

[Yang]

long leaves helenae are from vietnam. In fact most chinese paphs species could be found in Vietnam like the micanthum, malipoense which were though to only found in China. And when come to the species of West part of Yunan like the armeniacum, wardii, charlsworthii, they also found in the border country Burma. So i'm affraid there are none paph species only habitat in China so far. but when come to Cyps, we are really proud of the "monopoly". Did anyone here have experience to explore the wild orchids of Burma? Though it's very nearby, not everyone dare to step in the forests. You are easliy be aim of gun attack,by the local army. And thats why Burma was condider the last paradise of orchids.

 

[Paul]

I really love the Chinese one!!!

 

[likespaphs]

so very nice! thanks...

 

[Corbin]

I too like the Chinese. It is such a beautiful yellow.

 

[Sangii]

Did anyone here have experience to explore the wild orchids of Burma? Though it's very nearby, not everyone dare to step in the forests. You are easliy be aim of gun attack,by the local army. And thats why Burma was condider the last paradise of orchids.

the danger lies not only in the gun attacks but mostly in the fact that the area has lots of landmines.... somehow, even though I regret that there are so many mines which make so many victims in the Karen people every yaer, I think thzt if this area was easily accessible it would be wiped out of the wild orchids, just like similar areas in Thailand were orchids have been overcollected and have disappeared

 

[Nikolaus]

Very nice pictures and thanks for sharing your knowledge with us
Hello from Germany
Nikolaus

 

[GuRu]

Hello Yang,

Tank you for the nice flowers and your detailed explanations. Nice to have a guy 'in situ' in this forum.

Best regards from Germany, GuRu

 

[Mrs. Paph]

Very nice! Variation is always very interesting, even if all the variations would not be my idea of ideal form/size/color, the variety just serves to exaggerate the traits and really help the good ones stand out!

 

[practicallyostensible]

That's really interesting. Besides the color of the blooms are there any other clear and uniform distinctions (plant size, bloom shape, etc.)?

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Beautiful! Are the Chinese helenae in flask? I would suspect that they would be easier to export to the US than Vietnamese plants...I believe that China is a CITES signer......Eric

 

[Yang]

Thank you all~

Julia
there arent any obvious difference of their leaves.

Eric
Yes, flasks will be available in about 3 months, thanks.
China is a CITES signer, but someone control the CITES documents for the monopoly of orchid export in China, another long story.

 

[Heather]

Actually, I really like the one from Vietnam that is mostly yellow with just the maroon stripe in the dorsal.

 

[rob]

Hi Yang,
The Shan state has become more accessable although with the current state of affairs it could be different now. I was there 2 years ago and we were within a few miles of the paph area where charlesworthii grows when a member of our party got hurt and we had to turn around. Saw lot's of bellatulums though not in bloom.
Rob