Paraphalaenopsis hybrid blooming again

[mazlani]

I've shared this before but since this time it is producing 2 spikes I guess it is worth sharing again .

[coeruleo]

that's amazing! i love the colors. seems to be nice and happy on that tree.

[Cjcorner]

I will find one of these some day...i've wanted one for a long time! Yours is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing...

[angela]

Pardon my ignorance, what is an Paraphalaenopsis? I would welcome if someone would enlighten me. Always willing to learn.
The plant in the PIc. looks Vandalike, and the flower does not look near a Phalaenopsis. Again, please excuse my ignorance.

[mazlani]

Pardon my ignorance, what is an Paraphalaenopsis? I would welcome if someone would enlighten me. Always willing to learn.
The plant in the PIc. looks Vandalike, and the flower does not look near a Phalaenopsis. Again, please excuse my ignorance.

Paraphalaenopsis is a plant with long slender soft pencil like leaves and the bloom usually form a round clump a round it's short spike. The reason this looks like a vanda because this may have been crossed with a Vanda i.e merrilii etc. Hope this will help.

[catttan]

Sorry Mazlan, I forgot to say that your Paraphalaenopsis is gorgeous and obviously a very well-rown specimen plant.Congrats.

[catttan]

Pardon my ignorance, what is an Paraphalaenopsis? I would welcome if someone would enlighten me. Always willing to learn.
The plant in the PIc. looks Vandalike, and the flower does not look near a Phalaenopsis. Again, please excuse my ignorance.

I would like to add a bit to what Mazlan said. Before 1960 this genus was grouped together with Phalaenopsis but in 1963 or thereabouts(not sure about this date) it was reclassified as Paraphalaenopsis. There are only 4 species namely denevei, serpentilingua, laycockii and labukensis. The labukensis, the last to be discovered. is the giant of the family and serpentilingua, the dwarf. They are all terete leaved and are heat and light loving.As you have guessed this is a vandaceous orchid and hybridises very easily with other members of the vandaceous tribe - thus there are numerous crosses using Paraphalaenopsis, notably denevei and serpentilingua with practically every member of the vandaceous family. One might even call it a very 'promiscuous' orchid, with the help of man, of course.

One of the earliest , if not the earliest, was Arachnopsis Eric Holttum= Arachnis Maggie Oei x Phal denevei , registered in 1950. This cross is now a Pararachnis after the reclassification of denevei into Paraphalaenopsis. BTW in 1991 a Singapore stamp was issued featuring Arachnopsis Eric Holttum to commemorate the great contribution of Richard Eric Holttum to orchidology. He had just passed away the previous year 1990. In the 1960's there was a big rush to cross Arachnopsis (Pararachnis) Eric Holttum with with vandas, ascocendas, renantheras, Vandopsis (Hygrochiilus) and numerous other vandaceous and we had a plethora of these multigenerics. In those early days we had Bokchoonara, Trevorara, Laycockara, Sappanara, Deveruxara .... Among these the one that caused a lot of excitement was Bokchoonara Khaw Bian Huat (Arachnopsis Eric Holttum x Ascda Tan Chai Beng) a beautiful coloured semi-terete.

Since the reclassification, the old generic names whereby the crosses were registered with Paraphalaenopsis as Phalaenopsis are no longer valid, though old timers like me still find it extremely difficult to adjust to the changes. Now most of these Paraphalaenopsis crosses begin with Para.....

Sorry for the longwinded rambling but I thought the terete-leaved Paraphalaenopsis and hybrids deserve to be better known outside SE Asia.

[mazlani]

I would like to add a bit to what Mazlan said. Before 1960 this genus was grouped together with Phalaenopsis but in 1963 or thereabouts(not sure about this date) it was reclassified as Paraphalaenopsis. There are only 4 species namely denevei, serpentilingua, laycockii and labukensis. The labukensis, the last to be discovered. is the giant of the family and serpentilingua, the dwarf. They are all terete leaved and are heat and light loving.As you have guessed this is a vandaceous orchid and hybridises very easily with other members of the vandaceous tribe - thus there are numerous crosses using Paraphalaenopsis, notably denevei and serpentilingua with practically every member of the vandaceous family. One might even call it a very 'promiscuous' orchid, with the help of man, of course.

One of the earliest , if not the earliest, was Arachnopsis Eric Holttum= Arachnis Maggie Oei x Phal denevei , registered in 1950. This cross is now a Pararachnis after the reclassification of denevei into Paraphalaenopsis. BTW in 1991 a Singapore stamp was issued featuring Arachnopsis Eric Holttum to commemorate the great contribution of Richard Eric Holttum to orchidology. He had just passed away the previous year 1990. In the 1960's there was a big rush to cross Arachnopsis (Pararachnis) Eric Holttum with with vandas, ascocendas, renantheras, Vandopsis (Hygrochiilus) and numerous other vandaceous and we had a plethora of these multigenerics. In those early days we had Bokchoonara, Trevorara, Laycockara, Sappanara, Deveruxara .... Among these the one that caused a lot of excitement was Bokchoonara Khaw Bian Huat (Arachnopsis Eric Holttum x Ascda Tan Chai Beng) a beautiful coloured semi-terete.

Since the reclassification, the old generic names whereby the crosses were registered with Paraphalaenopsis as Phalaenopsis are no longer valid, though old timers like me still find it extremely difficult to adjust to the changes. Now most of these Paraphalaenopsis crosses begin with Para.....

Sorry for the longwinded rambling but I thought the terete-leaved Paraphalaenopsis and hybrids deserve to be better known outside SE Asia.

Thanks Yew Sung for this info. Really appreciate it .

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Wonderful blooms on this orchid!!

cheers,
BD

[angela]

Thanks Yew Sung. I am glad for your input, since I had never heard of Parapphalaenopsis before.