Stanhopea nigroviolacea

[Gwallogwyn]

This looks like another year of unusual flowering times. This has never flowered this early in the season. It could be because I grow uner lights. Everything is outdoors now.

P1010013 A on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

P5250004 A on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[kinknstein]

Very nice Stan!! Thanks for sharing!

[Soonix]

Very beautiful flower, does it have a strong smell ?

[Gwallogwyn]

Chumy
The fragrance is hard to describe. It is strong and pleasenty sweet but a bit over powering. No moth ball odor like some stanhopeas.

[isurus79]

Lucky you! Mine are still "asleep." Do you bring yours out of dormancy with water or like most orchids, wait for new growth to tell you when dormancy is over?

[smweaver]

Yup, mine are dormant too. The weather's warmed up quite a lot here, so I keep inspecting the plants every morning, expecting to see the beginnings of this season's growths. So far they seem content to continue producing lots of roots in spite of me threatening to hand them over to the squirrels if they don't cooperate. Congratulations on your blooms. They're outstanding.

Steve

[SP2340]

Wow, that's so beautiful!! What's the difference between this one and the Tigrina?

[Gwallogwyn]

All my stanhopeas are growing together and are watered at a reduced rate all through out the winter on light racks over egg crate with water underneath. The lights are on a timer 12 hrs a day. Most continue to produce new growth during the winter. I keep the humidity at about 75% and tems. range from 50* at night to about 60* during the day. I have tried to get jenischiana and radiosa to bloom using dormancy to no avail. Stan. saccata blooms several times a year every year with out dormancy.
I have 9 Tigrinas most are what I would call nigroviolacea only one, the Nikirk seedling is the harder to find dotted tiger striped form. The dented or non dented hypochile has occured on the same bloom on most of my tigrinas . For me if the bloom is predominantly solid oxblood red its nigroviolacea.

[Brooke]

I water mine year round also although the rate is reduced in the winter. I also get new growths in the winter. I currently have three spikes protruding!

Brooke

[Frdemetr]

Hi Gwallogwyn!

Congrats! Nice Stan! About the names (nigroviolacea vs. tigrina), I agree with you, it's probably only a matter of color forma (ie, it's OK to call the solid oxblood color red flowers as tigrina "var" nigroviolacea), and not a "real" variety; the size of the flowers, the number of buds per spike, the presence or not of a dented hypochile....I guess all of these differences are more a matter of diverse cultivation than true characteristics of real botanic varieties. It's only my opinion!