Got this weird-looking orchid flower. 21/3/13

[gerardhp1998]

oookay, so i was checking my garden and i was "WOWED" by this flower. I took pictures. here it is:

CLOSE UP :


Please tell me what is that about? THANKS

[Ron-NY]

The flower is peloric. Pelorism (or peloria) is defined as there being symmetry when none is expected It's petals are more lip-like. It appears that only one flower on the spike did that.

[Tmai]

What a nice surprise!!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Yes, a peloric phalaenopsis.

cheers,
BD

[OrchidAddict]

Ooh, that's neat! I've never seen a plant where just ONE of the blossoms went peloric, while the others all stayed normal. That's a beautiful phalaenopsis, too!

Actually...I just took another look at your photo. It looks like the other flowers were intended to be peloric as well. Do you see the slight "dents" in the petals? How they're not completely round and smooth? It's subtle, but if you look carefully, you can catch it. Peloric plants have become a trend recently...I see breeders making them on purpose, and often the result can be quite striking and much more interesting than if the flower had been "normal."

In fact, a lot of Cattleyas are peloric. The "splash-petal" Catts achieve the "splash" by stealing color from the lip. Splash-petals are not naturally occurring, generally... they have been bred like that so they are more pleasing/interesting to look at. In an orchid that's completely "natural," the petals and the sepals are all the same color.

Pretty phalaenopsis you have there!

[gerardhp1998]

Wow... Thank you everybody for Sharing about it. I am so excited... i remember last year, the flowers were all the same. But now... AWESOME. )
Thanks again guys )

[Katherine]

Do you consider a flower truly peloric even though it does have all its petals? If you notice, the 2 petals that appear to be missing are actually there, curving to make a cowl around the anthers and sepal.

[OrchidAddict]

Do you consider a flower truly peloric even though it does have all its petals? If you notice, the 2 petals that appear to be missing are actually there, curving to make a cowl around the anthers and sepal.

Yep...that actually IS the definition of peloric...the petals aren't missing (that would just be a deformity), but instead are trying to form themselves into additional lips. In some cases, the petals make the transition completely, and you actually end up with a flower that has three lips! (Check out my oddity below...I bought this one just because it was weird.)

Peloric phal:



But then I also have this one, which is also peloric. See the "dents" in the petals? That's an indication the petals were attempting to become lips. They just never made it all the way.



Both of these plants are peloric...it doesn't matter what stage of developing into lips the petals get to...what matters is that they attempted it in the first place.