Paphiopedilum wilhelminae

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mrhappyrotter

Grand Chupacabra
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
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Central North Carolina
I purchased this in May when SVO (Sunset Valley) released this year's Paph offerings. The plant spiked up about a month after it arrived. So, I am definitely not taking credit for blooming it.

This is a first bloom seedling with a new growth underway. Once it started spiking up, I was reluctant to let it bloom and considered snipping the spike so it could use that energy for growth. But, the allure of "instant" gratification won me over, so here it is.

I assume most of you are familiar with this species, but for the benefit of those who aren't: This is the smallest growing multifloral Paphiopedilum in its section, which includes numerous enormous growing species. It's in the glanduliferum / praestans / etc complex of closely related species. Typically these will have 2 or 3 flowers per spike on a mature plant. However, on a first bloom seedling like this, 1 flower per spike is fairly common. I'm guessing that if I'm successful growing and blooming this plant in the future, it'll probably have 2 blooms per spike.

I don't want to comment much on my care routine for this plant, since I haven't had it long enough to weigh in. I will say that it came in fine/seedling grade fir bark in a 4inch pot. It's handled extreme summer heat pretty well, and I water the outdoor Paphs daily or every other day when it's hot like this.
 

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Very cool looking flower. I have a Paph. praestans that I purchased from Paph. Paradise about a year ago, which was an unbloomed seedling. When it began to spike, I immediately cut the spike off in order to avoid stressing a young single growth plant and low and behold the plant put up two new growths. So, the moral of this story is cut the spike soon and grow the plant stronger.
 

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