Koellensteinia graminea

[Pindar]

I love this. You did extremely well to acquire this, my friend! You have a treasure.

[Pindar]

There is something about this exotic flower that immediately looked fimiliar... and now I remember. The way the the upper three segments (lateral petals and main sepal) are held together like a "hood"... this recalls a bunch of British and European orichds: man orchid aceras anthropomorphum, monkey orchid orchis simia (and most Orchis species really...) and the dramatic lizard orchid himantoglossum hircinum which is the most exiting orchid here in SE England.

[Dorsetman]

You really got me going there Zain ! Koellensteinia in Malaya - what next.Must be a misidentification, then I opened the message and read---from Ecuador-- of course !
I am presently engaged ( elsewhere) in a discussion wh a paleaologist trying to plot the time line in the evolution of orchids, when different genera - or more specifically- tribes diverged from the main evolutionary stem ( part of the explanation for why Oncidiums are not found in Asia, nor Vandas in America . The problem is that the dates used by the tectonic plate and Paleaology people don't fit. But I won't go on about that here - but this is the reason why I am conscious of and sensitive to the combination of location (Asia) and an Orchid Tribe which exists only in America.

[citywildcat]

zainal abidin, I couldn't find any posts on Koellensteinia ionoptera but your post is the closest thing so I will ask you :-)..... AND YOURS IS QUITE LOVELY, BY THE WAY LOVE THOSE EXOTIC COLORS! I have a Koellensteinia ionoptera for close to a year now. It had a spike on it when I got it and bloomed. It went through its normal cycle of dormancy, then new growth & put out a leaf of about 15 inches long. I noticed the other day that there is a weird wormy looking thing sticking out of the pot, near the edge of the pot (as opposed to being at the base of the plant itself, in the middle of the pot)/yes, it looks like a root but I didn't think they had roots that looked like THAT. Is it a root, and if so, is the plant asking to be repotted? I have a feeling I need to take it out of the pot and see what's going on in there since I've never done that since I got it. I sort of hate to disturb now, when it SEEMS to be doing well. (this bloom is from last year/yep, buds got wet.) What is that thing coming out of the pot? Should I take it out and look at the roots? How does that compare (on a scale of 1 to 10 in difficulty of growing) to Bulbophyllums? (no particular species/hybrid, just an average one..... yes, this relates to my other statement about trying to get my confidence up to buy another Bulbo and try again. I've only bought one and it died in record time, causing an ego blowout at high-speed.)

[zainal abidin]

Citywildcat thanks for putting nice photo for your information do not disturb the plant that already established, matured plant when the temperature is conducive usually it will through away the spike, definitely is very easy species to grow in tropical lowland I wish if you can take the photo is the best for me to comment could be that think is spike.The degree to say easy to grow basically is subjective all depend on their species requirement for example I had some difficulty to grow paph barbatum in lowland but after I made some researched he still can blooms in my area as long as I able to protect him from insects, fungal bacteria and adequate fertilizer including light.

[citywildcat]

Citywildcat thanks for putting nice photo for your information do not disturb the plant that already established, matured plant when the temperature is conducive usually it will through away the spike, definitely is very easy species to grow in tropical lowland I wish if you can take the photo is the best for me to comment could be that think is spike.The degree to say easy to grow basically is subjective all depend on their species requirement for example I had some difficulty to grow paph barbatum in lowland but after I made some researched he still can blooms in my area as long as I able to protect him from insects, fungal bacteria and adequate fertilizer including light.

Zainal, here is photo of wormy thing/must be a root, no? Also BIG new growth/forget photo, can't get good resize...comments welcome!

[zainal abidin]

What I can see there is a very nice huge healthy root that indicate that you take care him very well and he already adapted with your atmosphere without any doubt.I wondering there are 2 small projection next 2 the big pseudobulb is it old spikes?

[citywildcat]

What I can see there is a very nice huge healthy root that indicate that you take care him very well and he already adapted with your atmosphere without any doubt.I wondering there are 2 small projection next 2 the big pseudobulb is it old spikes?

Sorry to say, I don't know enough about that species to tell you what those are. In any case, they are old something or others (likely old spikes/previous blooms). I can only tell you what it has done since I got it but am not familiar enough with that genus to say what's what. I DO KNOW it got several new leaves last fall, after flowering, went to sleep for awhile, & now put out REALLY tall leaf. It is rarely unhappy, even though it gets much more light than what the "book says". If possible, for many of my orchids, I go by the weight of the pot when I determine whether it needs water, including that one. I AM HOPING FOR A FLOWER SPIKE :-). The REALLY big leaf has a purple ______(attached to the leaf stem). It looks like some of those older ones so maybe that's what it is. HAPPY ROOTS is a good thing, thank you, and perhaps a sign of better things to come.

[PaphMadMan]

Comparing to pictures in OrchidWiz and on the web, it does appear to be Koellensteinia, but isn't a very good match for pictures of Koellensteinia graminea flowers. The patches of color on the lip seem especially uncharacteristic. The only similar picture I found was on IOSPE, as Koellensteinia sp. Ecuador. That one is a good match.

As others have noted, we don't see Koellensteinia very often, so thanks for posting this interesting Zygo relative.

[citywildcat]

Comparing to pictures in OrchidWiz and on the web, it does appear to be Koellensteinia, but isn't a very good match for pictures of Koellensteinia graminea flowers. The patches of color on the lip seem especially uncharacteristic. The only similar picture I found was on IOSPE, as Koellensteinia sp. Ecuador. That one is a good match.

As others have noted, we don't see Koellensteinia very often, so thanks for posting this interesting Zygo relative.

SP SORRY... I think I mentioned it in one of my earlier posts that I could not find any threads or posts for K. Ionoptera., so I posted it with this species knowing all along it is not Koellensteinia graminiae but Koellensteinia ionoptera. I never meant to imply I thought it was GRAMINEA. I just didn't know where else to post my question. Speaking of graminea, I had one of those also but I didn't have as much success with that one as I did with this one... I guess you could say I didn't have any success at all! Thank you for your efforts. I'm glad I could post something that people don't see too often.