Ansellia africana var.alba in bloom

[ksriramkumar]

Got this in a sale last year and blooming first time for me. Has a mild fragrance during noon.

[78Terp]

Pretty!

Can you show the whole plant?

I recently bought a non-alba species plant of this one.

[sciencegal]

I have a large one which, I was excited to see, has just produced two spikes. I don't know what kind it is, I think a normal one.

[JDT]

Pretty color

[Chris in Hamilton]

Very nice! This one can get huge!

[sciencegal]

Very nice! This one can get huge!

Yes, the one I have is about 3 feet in diameter and almost that tall.

[Dorsetman]

I went to the Wolrld Orchid Conference in South Africa, some 18 months ago, and naturally there were lots of Ansellia there , some of them could only be called enormous plants - so big, I wondered how they got them to the show without a fork-lift truck. I talked to some guys on one stand about them - hoping to see and buy some plants ( no luck - too common out there ) and was told that the colour is always yellw, and the markings varied from the odd chestnut freckle, to almost black spots and bars of colour, sometimes so claoe together that the glower appeared dark brown or v black from a distance. So there is no true alba, just less spotted kinds.
Incidentally it seems to come from an enormous area of land in the wild, right across tropical africa from one side to the other, an area of very many thousand square miles, so no wonder it is variable.

[ksriramkumar]

Thank you Geoff. I had my doubts and double checked with the vendor who sold me this. I could not see any spots on this one yet. I understand that even the cane size of this species is very variable. Mine is almost 12 inches and a I am told mine is a dwarf variety.

[Dorsetman]

Cane size. I have flowered one example at about 8 inches, and the other is usally a bit over 14 inch. Cane thickness is more important and a guide to the strength of the plant I think. Mine don't flower with 1 cm thick canes, but say 15mmm is O K
But the big old plants with multiple spikes and hundrds of flowers in South Africa, were perhaps 60 cm, 2 ft or so high, and had canes maybe 2 cm thick - more like broom handles ! This can be achieved outside their home country. I used to visit a UK orchid nursery where they were almost as big, growing in a big bucket, and when I asked about culture I was told that it was in rockwool. I have never managed to keep any orchid alive in rockwool for any length of time, so I did not try and copy. But. Do grow them in S/H for in the African river valleys they are found near to the water in places which often get flooded I think. I once went looking for them in The Gambia when on holiday there, but was told they are to be found some way up the river, too far for me go in the time etc. available.

[ksriramkumar]

Interesting inputs Geoff. I will post a picture of the plant sometime this week. I grow it in full sun and requires a dry and cool winter to initiate spikes. This is my first flowering of this species after having it a year or so. I am growing it in a open media (bark and charcoal) in a clay pot with lot of holes. I water and fertilize during summers and reduced water and no fertilizer at all during winters.