I just came from the Manila Seedling Bank this afternoon and I saw these two outstanding specimen plants of V. Sandariana Alba on display in one of the commercial stalls. The stall is owned by two friends of mine who are basically into Ferns and Aroids exporting overseas mainly to Singapore. I was told that these plants came from their private collection and was removed from the huge tree trunks in their excellent nursery located in the highlands of Silang, Cavite, Philippines.
These are up for sale and I was literally drooling over these excellent clones which had numerous offshoots of assorted sizes at its base (these could eventually be separated from the mother plant). My two friends were not present that time and I was interested but when I asked the attendant, I was told that the largest plant on the left cost PHP45K (roughly a little below US$1K where the current rate for today is PHP44.35 to the US dollar)! Ohmigosh! I can't afford that so I just smiled and left abruptly as in I was really in shock! I didn't even bother asking for the price of the second but slightly smaller specimen plant as I figured that it wouldn't be so far off from the first one. Guess I'll have to get in touch with my two friends and try to haggle for a smaller plantlet without flowers as long as it comes from the same mother plant and something that I can afford.
Sorry if the two close-up photos (first and last shots) are blurry ..... that was caused by the shock I had when I learned of the selling price. My hands were trembling with envy, lust and shock! LOL!
The second (long-shot) photo though is clear.