Which Paphiopedilum to choose? Info and help needed!

[Kostas]

Hello!

I am trying to figure out which Paphiopedilum species fits my definition of ''awesome'' best and would like your help on that. From the flower photos i have seen,i like best the P. barbatum,P. lawrenceanum,P. dayanum,P. lowii and maybe P. tonsum(not too much). The best in bloom colors and shape is the P. lawrenceanum i think and the worst the P. tonsum. But,from a Paphiopedilum sp.,i am asking only for a nice bloom. I am mostly and more importantly asking for a beautiful,mottled,long and wide,droopy foliage. Which one of these fits best my foliage requirements? Which Paphiopedilum sp.(not neccessarily only from the ones i listed but with similar bloom shape and colors) has the biggest and droopiest mottled leafs? If you have pictures you can post,i would really appreciate it!

Thank you very much in advance!

[BikerDoc5968]

I don't know that anyone can select the best orchid for you because this is a very personal choice. We all have favorites and my favorite may not be the choice of someone else. As for "droopy foliage", I would say none of them! I have many mottled leaved Paphs and not one, that is healthy, has droopy leaves. The leaves should be firm and erect. I have a green Paph that has very long narrow leaves and these tend to hang over from their weight but most of my green paphs are more erect.

[Daethen]

From the ones you have listed I personally like the lowii. Just my opinion though.

[PaphMadMan]

Of the ones you listed, Paph. lowii foliage is plain green with no markings, so probably not what you want. Among the others Paph. lawrenceanum genereally has the largest leaves and probably the most dramatic markings. Paph. dayanum is usually slow growing so might not make for a great show of foliage.

I think the foliage on a few other species is more attractively mottled though. Paph. venustum and Paph. superbiens are my personal favorites, and I would also choose Paph. callosum as a possibility. All the species are variable so not every plant will be as dramatic, and I really wouldn't describe any of them as droopy if the plant is healthy. Gracefully arching maybe...

I don't have any pics to post, but a Bing or Google image search of any of these species should at least show you a bit of foliage.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replys!

BikerDoc5968,
I agree with you,its just that i dont have first hand experience with any of these species while you or others here do. By describing what i like in a Paphiopedilum,others with similar tastes may help by sharing what they like or species with such characteristics
When i say droopy leafs,i mean something like that:


Daethen,
Thank you very much for your suggestion! I do like its flowers but it unfortunately doesnt have mottled foliage.

PaphMadMan,
Thank you very much for your very helpful reply!
P. lawrenceanum has beautiful leafs but the markings i see googling are not as i would like them in most speciemen. From my search,foliage-wise,i like P. dayanum(the grey leafed form especially!) and P. callosum the most! P. venustum has great folliage as well but i am not very fond of its flowers. P.superbiens is nice as well in terms of flower. Is P. dayanum or P. callosum bigger in leaf and flower size? Why isnt P. dayanum a good folliage choice? Even if slow,wouldnt it still keep a good number of leafs as most do?

Thank you very much in advance!

[quiltergal]

How about Paph. sukhakulii, or Paph. liemianum? Both have interesting/attractive flowers and beautiful mottled foliage.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much for your suggestions Terri!

Both have beautifull foliage but i am not very fond of their flowers.


From what i have seen so far,i think Paphiopedilum callosum is the one that has me drooling the most so far as its flower is exactly what i like in shape and colors and it foliage is beautiful as well,although not ''perfect'' maybe

I think it may help to show you the plant that got me into Paphiopedilum in the first place:










All the above photos are from when i first got it a few years ago. I found it at a nursery mixed among Phalaenopsis hybrids and bought it as a gift to my mother because of its awesome foliage! It has now grown a good deal more and has many more leafs! As you can guess,this is more or less the foliage look i am after but in a pure species plant. The leafs being broader is a plus and leafs about 20cm long or longer are great! Can P. callosum have droopy leafs like that with somewhat revolute margins like the plant i show above? What makes Paphiopedilum leafs healthy but droopy? I saw many photos of P. callosum in habitat and others had leafs somewhat droopy while others quite erect. The droopiest ones i saw while googling were cultivated plants.

Which geographical variety of this species looks most like the above plant? Only concerning the foliage,i dont like the flower of the above plant much anyway.

If anyone can ID the plant i posted photos of,it would be great as well! Is it a hybrid,as i have guessed or is it a pure species?


Thank you very much in advance!

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by Kostas

PaphMadMan,
Thank you very much for your very helpful reply!
P. lawrenceanum has beautiful leafs but the markings i see googling are not as i would like them in most speciemen. From my search,foliage-wise,i like P. dayanum(the grey leafed form especially!) and P. callosum the most! P. venustum has great folliage as well but i am not very fond of its flowers. P.superbiens is nice as well in terms of flower. Is P. dayanum or P. callosum bigger in leaf and flower size? Why isnt P. dayanum a good folliage choice? Even if slow,wouldnt it still keep a good number of leafs as most do?

Thank you very much in advance!

Paph dayanum is often very slow growing even it if is happy, and for many people it is one of the most difficult of this group to keep alive. It is common for it to maintain only 1 or 2 fans of foliage and only grow new ones at about the same rate as old ones die off. Paph. callosum on the other hand tends to grow like a weed and is much more likely to get to be a big lush plant with a whole pot full of leaves. There are also many (thousands) of Paph. hybrids that are vigorous growers and combine the best features of both foliage and flowers of several species. In both species and hybrids the quality of flowers and foliage are not uniform. Rather than focus on one species I would go to an orchid grower and pick whatever looked good to me that day.

The hybrid you posted pictures of will not be possible to identify precisely. There are many hybrids of this general type, combining Parvisepalum Paphs with Cochlopetalum Paphs. Your plant could be Paph Dellaina (delenatii x chamberlainianum), but there are many similar hybrids. Seeing this plant I understand better the look you are going for, but I have to say that the droopy and revolute qualities of this foliage tell me this plant has been chronically or at least intermittently dehydrated. It is at least in part a clear sign that the plant is not as healthy as it could be - either not enough water on a regular basis or unhealthy roots from overwatering and old media.

[Kostas]

Thank you very much for your reply and info!

I will go with P. callosum then as if it grows like a weed its more likely it will grow well and look good for me
I see P. callosum has a wide distribution area. Would you suggest a particular geographic variant of it that should tolerate cold better and is droopier maybe?

I prefer to grow pure species of plants and not hybrids or cultivars,even if this makes acquiring them more difficult

Thank you very much for the ID of my mother's Paphiodelium! I understand this is approximate and we can never be sure but it still helps a lot!

The photos i posted were taken when i first got this plant as a gift to my mother and i think it has been better taken care of afterwards but i cant know for sure. It seems pretty lush and healthy now(but also somewhat droopy) and it hasnt lost a single leaf since i gifted it to her 1-2years ago It hasnt bloomed again though,possibly too little light or something else maybe.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Lagoon]

Hi Kostas

I kinda like slipper myself. Heres' a link that should help you ....

Paphiopedilum Data Sheets