Coelogyne mooreana 'Westonbirt'
Bought as a back-bulb prop'; a year ago, and put into S/H straight away - I find this section of the genus does very well for me this way, and grows miserably every other way. I think it should do much better than this when properly established , with flowers at least 50% bigger - but you can see the bulbs are not plump, and I can tell you they are not large - probably this is minimum size for flowering at all. But even after saying this, I love it. White flowers in perfection - not going over or damaged, always have something special about them for me.
Looking at Orchidwiz, maybe this clone is unknown in USA. One listed there is Brockhurst - which I also have, and this is very similar when well grown. The varietal name (Westonbirt) comes from the name of the collection where it was grown and awarded ( RHS/FCC) maybe getting on for a hundred years ago. Another famous 'Westonbirt' orchid is in the parentage of many Cymbidium hybrids - Cym. Alexanderi 'Westonbirt' variety - which was 4n - hence its importance in giving great shape and substance. Westonbirt house is now a girls boarding school - they rent out parts in the long vacation , and I have been there visiting antiques fairs - hoping to find some traces of the orchids, but to no avail... ; the owner in it's great days( Sir George Holford) was also a tree enthusiast as well as an orchid fan, and he had a big tree collection - arboretum - of the same name, which is still there opposite the school, but now managed by the UK National Forestry Commission - its a grand place to walk in the Autumn ( Fall to you guys) when the leaves colour.
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