Weird Paph. Ho Chi Minh

[SlipperFan]

I laughed when this one opened -- it reminded me of this thread (only this one has not been "photoshopped":
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8326

 

[Candace]

That's really wierd, Dot, but my HCM did the same exact thing! Only on one side, though. I pinched it off with my fingernail. It didn't do that on it's first blooming for me, just the second one. So, it's got to be cultural related somehow. Don't know what I did to get the antennae look and whatever you did, you must have done twice as much;>

 

[SlipperFan]

What is very strange is that, if cultural, why didn't it happen to my first one to bloom a week or two earlier? They grew side by side, are in the same size pots and got the same care.
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8274&highlight=Minh

 

[Candace]

I don't know. But, like I said mine wasn't genetic since it didn't do it the first blooming.

 

[streetmorrisart]

That's :evil:, Dot! Awesome...

(Koi or Paph we ask ourselves?)

 

[Gilda]

I kinda like it !:clap:

 

[SlipperKing]

You ladies,
This is normal. Those are handle bars for the bugs to hang onto when pollenating. Candace, you probably have some Peeved off bugs

 

[NYEric]

:rollhappy: LOL! What a group!

 

[Roy]

Kinky..............................

 

[Corbin]

neat mutation

 

[SlipperFan]

Candace brings forth a good point:
Does a genetic mutation always result in it's happening every time it blooms? If so, why do we always say upon a plants first bloom that is less than perfect, "Bloom it again -- maybe next time it will be better"? -- and it often is. Conversely, can a fault show up in a subsequent bloom that didn't appear in the previous one?

 

[JeanLux]

Sorry to bring in a non-paph, but I have a plant of Vanda Manuvadee since 1992. For about 10 years it had 'normal' flowers; the last couple of years however brought up regularly some crippled ones .
Jean

 

[SlipperFan]

Flower #2 on the same stalk opened as did #1, but the 3rd flower (same inflorescence) opened normal, i.e., quite nice:

So, is this genetic or cultural???

 

[paphioboy]

WOW..!! Your HCM has 3 flowers per spike..? *DROOL*... You should keep this plant, Dot.. Maybe your HCM just feels like being a butterfly sometimes, so it grows antennas and wants to fly away...

 

[mccallen]

Candace brings forth a good point:
Does a genetic mutation always result in it's happening every time it blooms? If so, why do we always say upon a plants first bloom that is less than perfect, "Bloom it again -- maybe next time it will be better"? -- and it often is. Conversely, can a fault show up in a subsequent bloom that didn't appear in the previous one?

Previous "normal" flowerings does not preclude the possibility that this, or any mutation is genetic. Many plants accumulate somatic mutations that change floral or shoot structure on portions of the organism. These mutations are not necessarily stable and permanent either.

Marigold and Dahlia varieties which normally bear streaked bicolored flowers occasionally produce solid-colored flowers when the transposon responsible for secondary color interruption is excised from the genome early in the floral development.

Many variegated plants produce wild-type green shoots as well, owing to a similar process. If the mutation is the result of complete transposon excision early enough in development, all future tissue derived from the mutant shoot will have the mutant genotype, but growths derived from primordia not generated along the mutant stem after the mutation occured (growths elsewhere on the plant) will have the original genotype.

Plants do not set aside germ line cells early in development as animals do, and because haploid reproductive tissue develops out of somatic tissues mutations like these which can accumulate over the long life of plants, a single large plant can sometimes be thought of as a bit of a chimera. Have you ever noticed that some portions of a large tree seem to go untouched by pests while the rest is damaged? Have you seen branches or growths with slightly different coloration than the rest of the plant?

This artifact of development results in a fascinating sort of intra-organism selection.

 

[biothanasis]

Maybe streetmorrisat is right!!! Maybe there are koi genes in it...oke:
Very beautifulll... I like it...

 

[SlipperFan]

Although mostly over my head, mccallen, your post was very interesting. I get the gist, and that's pretty much what I suspected.

Paphioboy: I do intend to keep the plant. The flowers are actually bigger than my other Ho Chi Minh. The delenatii parent has the clonal name "Three Flowers" so it's nice that carried over into this offspring.

 

[PaphMadMan]

Candace brings forth a good point:
Does a genetic mutation always result in it's happening every time it blooms? If so, why do we always say upon a plants first bloom that is less than perfect, "Bloom it again -- maybe next time it will be better"? -- and it often is. Conversely, can a fault show up in a subsequent bloom that didn't appear in the previous one?

Developmental abnormalities like this are complicated to understand. Genetics plays a large part of course, and may change over time in significant ways, and the genetics of orchid flower development are very complicated because of the highly modified flowers. Environment contributes, and it may be a very small and transitory environmental change at just the right stage of development that triggers something unusual. General health and vigor of the plant, and stage of maturity, also play a role.

And there is an element of chance involved. Proteins don't always fold right as they form. Enzymes don't always catalyze a reaction exactly the same. There is a small statistical margin of error in these processes.

Add it all up and any biological process has emergent properties, a level of complexity that makes it impossible to predict exactly what will happen. That's half the fun of growing things, and applies not just to the occasional odd flower, but the occasional perfect one as well.