Triple labellum?

[John McCrosson]

Hi folks. My first post, from Ayr, Scotland. Is this a triple labellum in these 2 photos of one of my orchids? If yes, how unusual is it?

[Bulbopedilum]

Hello and Welcome.

Yes, that is a triple labellum.

This is just a mutation, which may look nice to some people.

A plant or flower that is mutated is called a peloric. Im not sure if peloric is only used for a plant that produces a certain type of mutated flower or of it can refer to a single mutated flower.

It's cool, somewhat uncommon, but not that rare.

[John McCrosson]

Thank you, Saka

[Subrosa]

Peloric refers to a mutation in the type of symmetry. Normally orchids, like people are bilaterally symmetrical. Draw a line down the middle, and you essentially have two mirror images. A peloric orchid is radially symmetrical, like a starfish, with more or less identical appendages radiating out from a central point.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by John McCrosson

Hi folks. My first post, from Ayr, Scotland. Is this a triple labellum in these 2 photos of one of my orchids? If yes, how unusual is it?

I like individuality like this. Very nice to see.

[PaphMadMan]

Multiplication of floral segments like this is usually a developmental problem not a mutation, which technically must be a genetic change that can be passed on to the next generation.

Peloric flowers, as noted by Subrosa, are not just any oddity in floral structure. It means the flower has changed in a way that makes it closer to radial symmetry. We can't really see this flower well enough to say if that is true. It looks like there is more going on than just the multiple lips.

Neither developmental problems leading to one-time floral abnormalities nor peloric flowers are particularly rare in orchids.