Paph. kolopakingii var. topperi

[Pete]

nice one..

 

[Roy]

Very nice flowering, well done.

 

[Paul]

Very nice one!!
I've been told it stinks a little, is it true for yours?

 

[biothanasis]

It is very beautiful, indeed!!!!!!!

 

[Pete]

very faint smell in the heat of the day.

 

[Sangii]

wow ! wonderful :clap:

 

[Rick]

That's a nice one.:clap:

How big are those flowers? They have a nice dark tone and good contrast in the dorsal sepal.

How many growths does this plant have?

 

[SlipperKing]

Nice kolo, I count 7 is that right? Well displayed too.

Rick H

 

[Elena]

Definitely nice!

 

[Shadow]

:clap: Gorgeous

 

[GuRu]

Awesome and very impressive !! :drool:
Not often seen in this quality and wit this number of flowers - Congrats.

Best regards from Germany, GuRu

 

[cwt]

Always nice to see a kolopakingii. How tall is the spike?

 

[SlipperFan]

Good job!

 

[Pete]

there are seven flowers on a single growth plant just now starting to push the second growth. leafspan is maybe 20-22 inches..

 

[tan]

welgrown n nice flowers

 

[Corbin]

Bravo!

 

[Rick]

The one I purchased from Ron is opening up now too.

How much difference is there between regular kolo, and var. topperi?


The flowers seem to be a bit bigger and greener to me.

 

[Pete]

i was under the impression kolopakingii has bigger flower, is a bigger plant and holds 11-14 flowers on a stem, with more brown and less green in the flowers. topperi's should never have more than 7-8 flowers..

 

[Rick]

i was under the impression kolopakingii has bigger flower, is a bigger plant and holds 11-14 flowers on a stem, with more brown and less green in the flowers. topperi's should never have more than 7-8 flowers..

Cribb's book has topperi as the larger flower (no mention of plant size or flower count). Koopowitz has topperi as the greener flower with no mention of any numbers of any kind.

Cribb's account of the history is that topperi was accredited to a handfull of plants with no particular population data that bloomed in the collections of Simanis Orchids and Richard Topper. The larger flowers (sepals and petals 1.2 - 2.5 cm bigger than plants from the original collection) were first called var. giganteum by Kolopaking himself in 1988, but redescribed by Braem in 1988 as var. Topperi.

It seems like all the accounts of the taxonomy of kolopakingii is based on very limited knowledge of the the population demography of the plant, and more on the description of a handful of plants flowering in collections.

Subsequently Cribb and Koopowitz don't seem to give much credence to any significant variation in kolopakingii

I have seen a dozen or so kolos blooming and only a handful have had 12-14 blooms. Most are in the 6 - 10 range. Magnifico seems to be a clone I've seen with consistently high flower counts. It could also be an age thing, and you may need huge multigrowth plants to get the big flower counts.

 

[JeanLux]

very impressive bloom!! could you show a pict. of the complete plant?? Jean