Phalaenopsis Family Types, Who am I ?

[createyourdream]

You know Ray, I think you might be onto something there with the Doritis idea. I've been reading different descriptions and they say Doritis pulcherrima, has thick leathery, darker green leaves. The name comes from the greek word meaning spearhead.

The lady who gave me this plant didn't tell me it was a phalaenopsis, it was part of an orchid collection that she inherited and knew nothing about. I was only assuming the Phalaenopsis part because it looks more like that than any other orchid family.

The thickness of the leaves and leathery feel really rings home with this plant & come to think of it, it is also darker green than my phalaenopsis.

I'll keep looking for more pictures of the leaves of Doritis online. I wouldn't be surprised if that is what this one is related to.

[camille1585]

Like Ray said, the fact that it has narrow pointy leaves doesn't have a lot of meaning. Personally I think that yours does not look at all like a plant with Doritis in it. Looks like the typical Noid Phal. I have a primary hybrid of Doritis pulcherrima, and those leaves do have strong Doritis characterisitics that yours just doesn't have. The leaves of Doritis are also wider spaced on the 'stem' than Phals, giving it a somewhat cornstalk appearance.

Also, all Phal leaves thick, to varying degrees, and the dark green color may just be due to low light or maybe because the blooms are dark. (Dark bloomed plants tend to have darker leaves with some red coloring on their undersides)

IMO, your attemps at IDing the plant via the leaf are beyond hopeless. You'll have much better luck with the blooms, and even then it will likely be impossible.

[RosieC]

Doritis pulcherrima has been freely bread with Phalaenopsis for so long that many of the NoID hybrids of Phalaenopsis probably have it in their background, so much so that they are still really just NoID phals and can't really be traced to pulcherrima.

The flowers of pulcherrima (which is now classed as Phal pulcherrima) are quite distinctive and unlike most Phal flowers in shape, however it's hybrids mixing it with other phals generally have standard phal flowers.

I have a named orchid which I know has this in the background but it is basically no different to many of my NoID hybrids, one of which has VERY long leaves like yours.