Stanhopea tigrina and S. t. var. nigroviolacea

[Kostas]

Hello,

I saw Stanhopea tigrina in a video a few days ago and found what is the next orchid in my to get list I really liked it a lot. Reading more about this species,i read that Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea is a variety with darker and bigger flowers but i have been unable to find the exact differences of these two subspecies. So,i would like to ask you what exactly differentiates these two(both in plant looks/needs,etc and flower)and which one is the best looking in your opinion along with why. So far i havent been able to conclude because i havent seen equally good photos of both and dont know(and cant tell) their size difference.

Can both subspecies have the light colored part of their flowers yellow instead of plain creme i see in some photos? Many S. tigrina i see have it yellowish but few S. t. var. nigroviolacea i saw have that part yellowish in color.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Frdemetr]

Hello Kostas,

Although some authors consider Stan tigrina v. nigroviolacea a separate species, I think it is actually only a variety or even just a different color forma of Stan tigrina (more "solid" dark color in sepals), and in fact the flowers tend to be higher in nigoviolacea, but the care and cultivation are exactly the same; you can see attached a pic of a Stan tigrina (not mine, it belongs to a friend), and I ask: is it a tigrina nigroviolacea or a common? The size of the flower is nigroviolacea size, but the color is not typical, it’s "intermediate" between the two, then what is it? This type of flower makes me really believe that nigroviolacea is not even a "variety", but simply a color forma. Owning just one or the other is more a matter of personal taste. Other color forms exist, but are much rarer (you can find pictures in the book "The Stanhopea Book", author Rudolf Jenny).
PS: if the different size of flowers between tigrina and tigrina v. nigroviolacea result that them will be pollinated by different insects, so the picture changes, and we may in fact be dealing with different species.

[Kostas]

Hello Frederico,

Thank you very much for your informative reply and the photo! Beautyful flowers!
What do you mean by ''the flowers are higher in nigroviolacea''? Do you mean that they keep their sepals and petals higher up instead of horizontial? Or something else?
Is a nigroviolacea flower bigger than the typical tigrina? How much bigger? I have read that the opening for the insect pollinator is actually smaller in nigroviolacea than in typical tigrina despite its bigger size. Is this true? What is your favorite among the two varieties? I have seen some other color forms as well but in my opinion they dont come near the typical or the nigroviolacea in beauty.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Frdemetr]

Kostas,

I got lost in translation, the flowers of nigroviolacea are bigger and heavier, that's what I wanted to say! I don't know the details of the pollination of tigrina, I don't know even if the pollinators of the two "varieties" have been reported. I'm a fanatic Stanhopeas lover and I have two varieties, but the average orchid lover usualy prefers nigroviolacea!

[Kostas]

Thank you very much for your reply Frederico!

I like Stanhopea more than the average orchid genus too but for practical reasons,i generally prefer to only grow one species from each genus i choose to grow to prevent any chance cross pollination of my plants.
What is the size difference of the flowers of the 2 varieties? Whats the maximum flower width for each?
Which variety keeps its sepals more horizontally oriented,in an umbrella like way and which pointing upwards,in an inverted umbrella way?
Have you noted any difference in fragrance or its strength in the 2 varieries?
What makes me hesitant to choose is that i truly like the tigrina intermixing color pattern of cream/yellowish and pinkish/red but i sure prefer bigger flowers as well! Actually,the photo of your friend's plant's flowers shows exactly how i like my Stanhopea!!! Is that plant a division of a wild collected plant or one grown from seed(or from a cultivated seed grown individual)? I ask because if its seed grown from a cultivated seed source,it could well be man made unintentional or not,cross of the two varieties.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Frdemetr]

Hi Kostas

The measures and the degree of folding backwards of the sepals varies a lot depending of cultivation, but in general this species does not fold the sepals to much, maybe even less in nigroviolacea; measures provided by Dr R. Jenny are (for the larger dimension) between 12 and 18cm, but at least 20% of the size depends on the quality of the cultivation, a common tigrina well cultivated can easily overcome a v. nigroviolacea badly cultivated. To the human noses the scent is identical and delicious in both. Unfortunately I do not know the origin of the plant from my friend, he earned it along with many other orchids of a deceased person, I can only say that the plant is very old (probably it’s a division, not grown from seed)

Kind regards!

[Kostas]

Hi Frederico!

Thank you very much for your reply! It really helps me a lot!
Are the measures you posted of S.tigrina or of v. nigroviolacea?
If its very old it stands good chances to be a division of a wild collected plant or even the wild collected plant itself!

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards,
-Konstantinos

[Manfred Busche]

Hi Kostas .

Frederico is very knowledgeable on Stanhopeas, and I am going to give him some assistance here ...

While flowers of (e.g.) Stanhopea wardii are always very much the same in all aspects of their appearance,
flowers of Stanhopea tigrina are not.

Flowers of S. tigrina by their very nature do differ on species level from plant to plant, both in colour and size,
hence there is no sound justification to use a further name besides S. tigrina .

All populations of S. tigrina originate from a stretch of the eastern slopes of the Mexican Plateau.

The name of S. nigroviolacea may be used for horticultural purposes though - to address what the name suggests :
clones of S. tigrina that show rather densely colored sepals ...

I hope this helps,
Manfred.

[Kostas]

Hi Manfred

Thank you very much for your reply!
So,do S. tigrina and its other variants live side by side in nature or do they inhabit different parts of the eastern slopes? Do you know of any papers addressing the natural pollinators of this species or its habitat?

S. tigrina does seem to allow a great degree of variability regarding flower color pattern but flower coloration and supposedly heavier flower built of the S. tigrina nigroviolacea do set it out somewhat. Then again,if one takes into account all the varieties/subspecies(?) of this species and their different looks,that would be ''normal''.

Are you saying that there are actually no geographical varieties/subspecies of Stanhopea tigrina and that the different flower colors and patterns are due to the random breeding that happens in nature or that we just cant know which variant/subspecies a certain plant is and so its just not worth bothering with names further than S. tigrina?

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards,
-Konstantinos

[Manfred Busche]

There are in nature species that exhibit a strong trait for clonal differences, and there are others that do not.
Among the former are Homo sapiens (as we all know) and Stanhopea tigrina.

I cultivate a dozen plants of S. tigrina and their flowers are different in size, colour and pattern.

Fragrance is very constant though, Phenylethyl acetate 90 %.