Rather difficult to show this off to full advantage . 8 flowers, nicely and evenly distributed around the stem, so that wherever you stand, as you walk round it, there is always one full face, but only ever one.
A species that has been on my wish list for ever; I have "bought it" half a dozen times in the last as many years - usually it turns out to be R.grande ( same thing, but much larger flowers - these are about 4 inches natural spread - grande is usually over 6 inches, but far fewer ; alternatively what one gets is Rawdon Jester - a primary hybrid made by an old friend of mine ( maybe now a late friend - have not seen him since he sold his nursery - it is now a housing estate called "Orchid Avenue" - building land in our crowded little island is worth a lot more than growing space. Anyhow, the hybrid is grande x williamsianum.
The reason for the scarcity I think is that this is a Mexican species ; no-one from Mexico ever comes to Europe selling orchids. Maybe there are no orchid traders there - sounds unlikely, but maybe it is just that they have a much bigger market on their doorstep - USA.
And of course, Mexican orchids are not too easy , for me anyway . They are used to resting in the summer, and growing in the winter, I think, and our winter, here in UK, is just too dreary and sunless ( but boy, you should see our summers - this one - the sun has shone non-stop for 10 weeks now , I think , and its not even summer yet, just Spring..) And that, for Uk, is out of this world. - Mind you, it is a good thing we had the wettest winters ever recently - but even so, my garden is beginning to flag, and the pots of flowers I have on the patio and in front of the house, need watering daily. Quite a chore.
Back to williamsianum. 8 flowers. Could get up to at least a dozen I think , although IOSPE thinks only up to 8. My expectation is based on the fact that my plant is not very strong yet - 3 leafless back-bulbs, and the leading bulb not as big as I should like. Well, we will s ee, or not....