Paph philippinense from Sabah

[gore42]

I've recently been hearing reports of Paph philippinense plants that were found in Sabah, and I see in a couple of books that this species has been reportedly found on the islands directly north of Borneo, but I haven't had a chance to see any photos of the blooms or plants.

I'm curious if any of you have any experience with philippinense from this region, and what characteristics in these plants differ from other philippinense, if any. I've always had trouble keeping track of the variation within this group (laevigatum, roebelenii, etc,).

Of course, photos would be appreciated

- Matt

 

[slippertalker]

I've heard that plants of Paph philippinense have been found in north Borneo, but haven't seen any details on differences in the population(s). This species has a lot of diversity and a pretty large geographical range. It's always easier to lump this cluster of plants and just split off var. roebelinii. The other forms are just variations based on isolation.
If someone has some pictures, that would be great!

 

[Rick]

Matt
I have a copy of Cribb's Slipper Orchids of Borneo. There are a couple of pics of Sabah philippinense in the book, and they look just like nominal philippinense to me. The picture titles say that the plants are from mainland East Sabah. The text adds the range description of islands just off Borneo.

 

[gore42]

Thanks Rick! That's a book that I don't have. I'm really not sure what a nominal philippinense looks like, now that I think about it... I've seen so much variation.

Anyway, thanks again!

- Matt

 

[Candace]

I'm dredging up this old thread instead of starting a new one...Are there any differences in the leaf shape or length in the different philippinense varieties? I bloomed out a "roebelenii" and of course forgot to take a photo and now have just a regular philippinense in spike. I've looked at many photos on the net and really can't tell much of a difference between the two. Both of my plants seem to look the same in growth size and habit to me.

 

[slippertalker]

I have seen some varieties such as Paph laevigatum which were more compact than the typical Paph philippinense. The most compact one I've seen is the variety from Palawan Island which is small compared to the big Paph philippinense varieties.

 

[Rick]

I've seen quite a bit of variation in leaf size within individual varieties.

I have a couple of roebelinii with leaf spans in excess of 24 inches, and recently picked up one (not bloomed to verify var. ,but comes from a prominent collector)
with a leaf span barely over 1 foot.

I've seen nominal variety plants with 18" spans, and "compact" forms too. So I think it would be hard to generalize about IDing the variety by the size of the plant.