New variation of Aer. houlettiana?

[FluffyOtter]

Hi guys,

I am newbie from Vietnam. Recently I have collected one wild Aer. houlettiana (aka Aer. falcata var. houlettiana) with almost completely white flowers (as shown in pictures). The flowers at full bloom have both sepal and petals at white (a bit yellowish from back view) and a bit purple lip.




Could you guys - as known as experts in orchids from all over the world - please identify and confirm for me is this a new variation of the species? I used google search for both houlettiana/falcata var alba/semi alba but only got the result of Aer. falcata var alba.

Thank you very much!

[Subrosa]

I can't answer your question, but you should know that even if your collection of this plant was fully legal you will likely be told that removing it from the wild was wrong. If the collection is not legal, or if you don't know whether it's legal or not you could be in for a fairly rough time. Just a little heads up.

[FluffyOtter]

Hi there,

I appreciated what you remind me. But the situation of my orchid collection is quite tricky while my work is to survey and access loss from illegal logging in my country, so it's required to do field work in the forest. You know that after illegal loggers took all the good part of the tree, the priceless remaining including lots of wild orchids are left to death, so I think my collection is to help them to survive rather than illegally pick them from their own environment - it's better for them and for me.

Originally Posted by Subrosa

I can't answer your question, but you should know that even if your collection of this plant was fully legal you will likely be told that removing it from the wild was wrong. If the collection is not legal, or if you don't know whether it's legal or not you could be in for a fairly rough time. Just a little heads up.

[sweetjblue]

looks like it could possibly be Aer. odorata.? Just my guess

[FluffyOtter]

No, it's definitely not Aer. odorata. You can easily distinguish one Aerides species to the others just by looking at the flower lip.

Originally Posted by sweetjblue

looks like it could possibly be Aer. odorata.? Just my guess

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by FluffyOtter

Hi there,

I appreciated what you remind me. But the situation of my orchid collection is quite tricky while my work is to survey and access loss from illegal logging in my country, so it's required to do field work in the forest. You know that after illegal loggers took all the good part of the tree, the priceless remaining including lots of wild orchids are left to death, so I think my collection is to help them to survive rather than illegally pick them from their own environment - it's better for them and for me.

Well no sane person could fault your intentions in such a case.

[Fairorchids]

Having a touch of color makes it an albescent type, rather than a true alba. I tried to google houlettianum with both alba and albescent, but could find no reference to either.

If the plant is strong and well established, I would suggest self-pollinating. In the next generation you might get some true albas (or not).

I think that there is a nursery in Vietnam, which can do flasking of the seed. If not, there are many labs and/or nurseries who would be interested in a seed pod.

[Plodde]

I dunno what it is but it's beautiful