Paphiopedilum villosum

[Guldal]

I got this villosum recently from Popow - it was sold as var. annamense, which it clearly isn't. I don't mind a iota, as I really like its colours!
My bid would be the typical form, that is P. villosum var. villosum - interesting how varied a species villosum is!

 

[Ozpaph]

i like the colour, too

 

[DrLeslieEe]

Is it fully expanded and the color is set? The dorsal looks like it might yellow up more? What does tag say?

 

[GuRu]

Jens, the maroon colour patterns of this flower are very nice. If I had it I would be pleased too, even if I had expected another variety.
To me it seems to be more in the direction of P. villosum var. laichaunum but as you can see in the linked videos of Hakone there seem to be a lot of transistions between the varities of P. villosum.

 

[Guldal]

To me it seems to be more in the direction of P. villosum var. laichaunum ....

This was also my own immediate thought, but then I took a closer look at the description of var. laichaunum from "Die Orchidee" by Olaf Gruß and the three vietnamese gentlemen. They stress the resemblance of laichaunum with the typical form of villosum, but mentions a couple of distinct features, where they differ. My plant does not present these characteristica: it has not "shorter and narrower leaves", the synsepalum is not "large and broad" and not "larger than the lip". Maybe the form of the dorsal sepal might point more in the way of laichaunum, "circular, pointed, ... with wavy base", but not its colouring - only if you exchange brown with maroon in the description of laichaunum: "... without spots, and a dark brown centre fading to the tip".

 

[Guldal]

What does tag say?

'P. villosum var. annamense', which it very clearly isn't - neither from colour, nor from form of the dorsal sepal.

 

[Phred]

And how many of these variations are the result of crossing plants that were miss labeled? What is the result of a cross made between var annamense and a var laichaunum miss labeled as annamense...
This could be one explanation for there being so many variations in some of the above videos IMHO

 

[Guldal]

What is the result of a cross made between var annamense and a var laichaunum miss labeled as annamense...

...or between var. fusco-roseum mislabelled as annamense with var. laichaunum mislabelled as annamense?!

 

[masaccio]

It's a jolly photo!

 

[GuRu]

And how many of these variations are the result of crossing plants that were miss labeled? What is the result of a cross made between var annamense and a var laichaunum miss labeled as annamense...
This could be one explanation for there being so many variations in some of the above videos IMHO

Phred, I presume some, maybe the mayority of these shown plants may be wild collected ones and when you have a look at map which show the range of the distributio of P. villosum and its varieties (for excample at slipperorchids.info) you will see that these ranges overlap in wide parts, This may be also an explanation of the abundance of P. villosum varieties and different colourations.

 

[masaccio]

Treading lightly here, but I just found a helpful page for me:
Villosum photos
with photos of several named variations of villosum. I'm not up on these studies at all, and please pardon my lack of proper descriptive terms, I'm just curious. What I noticed about the villosum photos on this page, except laichaunum, was that the front of the pouch has a pronounced "dip" to expose most of the staminoidal shield. Laichaunum dips down much less dramatically, similar to Guldal's. Are those "lateral" concave areas in the pouch also characteristic of laichaunum? Are either of those two characteristics of any importance in distinguishing types? Thanks! Also attached is a photo from a vendor website of a paph labelled var. laichaunum not exhibiting either characteristic I mentioned as far as I can see.

 

[Guldal]

It's interesting, whether the plant in your photo, masaccio, actually adheres to the botanical description of var. laichaunum, see below. The dorsal form and the size of the synsepalum for one trouble me (from the photo it's impossible to judge about the leavage).

"Paphiopedilum villosum (Lind.) Stein var. laichaunum Hai et Tuan var. nov.
Diagnose: The new variety is similar to the typical variety of Paphiopedilum villoson (Lind.) Stein, Stein's Orchideenbuch: 490, 1892, but distinctly differs from all known infraspecific taxa of Paph. villosum by the shorter and narrower leaves, the circular, pointed dorsal sepalum, with wavy base, without spots and a dark brown centre fading to the tip, by a large and broad synsepalum that is larger than than the lip.
Type: Northern Vietnam, Lai Châu province, Sin Hô district; coll. Nguyen Hoang Tuan and Nguyen Son Hai, 2014; ex cult: 15-September-2015 (Holotype HNU/N.H.Tuan014)." (Die Orchidee, Vol. 4, Nummer 15, 2018)

I chose to quote also the last paragraph about the type, as it seems to answer the question whether the vietnamese botanists, actually, were in the province of Lai Châu? If I'm not misinterpreting the text, the type plant of this variety were collected there in 2014 by Tuan and Hai, and was preserved from culture on the 15th of September the following year. (If I'm barking up the wrong tree here, please be so kind as to enlighten me!)

 

[Guldal]

Treading lightly here, but I just found a helpful page for me:
Villosum photos
with photos of several named variations of villosum.

The photos posted by Dr. Tanaka is actually from the article with the description, I quoted above - and I attach it below. I think the photo quality might be slightly better in the article:

 

[DrLeslieEe]

I suspect this is a hybrid of two different types of villosums, therefore showing intermediate features of both the laichaunum and annamense possibly. Bred before the separation of the types were very well separated.

 

[masaccio]

The photos posted by Dr. Tanaka is actually from the article with the description, I quoted above - and I attach it below. I think the photo quality might be slightly better in the article:

Thank you!