Gongora claviodora and scaphephorus

[serama]

Both these plants just finished blooming last week. I bought them last year and while Gong. claviodora (pics 1 and 2) is nearly ready to open its third spike from the same pseudobulb (the pictures show the second spike, though you can already see the third spike developing), Gong. scaphephorus (pics 3 and 4) has only produced a single spike so far. Gong. scaphephorus has a lovely long spike with faintly scented flowers, while Gong. claviodora has flowers like dark red velvet and, as its name indicates, they are intensely fragrant and smell of cloves. The flowers of gongoras only last a maximum of 5 to 7 days but each pseudobulb produces at least two or three spikes over a period of a few months after it matures.

[serama]

I tried crossing them both ways, but it seems that the Gong. scaphephorus flowers are all male! The part of the column where the stigmatic surface should be is just like the rest of the column ... no concave surface, no sticky area, nothing. Seemingly some gongoras only develop a stigmatic surface on a flower if the pollinia of that flower are removed soon after it opens. The Gong. claviodora flowers did have stigmatic surfaces, but the cross didn't take. Maybe these species are incompatible and can't cross pollinate because they belong to two different subsections (Gong. scaphephorus belongs to subsection Scaphephora and Gong. claviodora to subsection Gongora).

[pavel]

I LOVE Gongora! Most remind me of little dragons in flight. Unfortunate, for me, that they take up quite a bit of room -- particularly when in bloom.

As far as the cross not taking, could have been due to other factors besides incompatibility, I imagine. With some plants, it is also a matter of timing -- of the pollen being not too young or old; of the stigma being receptive -- and sometimes it take several attempts to get it to take.

[mazlani]

Very nice Gongoras. Love both of them though this is the first time I'm seeing G. scaphephorus. Well done.