Purple Paph ID!

[angelabean]

I purchased a Paph Supersuk ‘Eureka’ AM/AOS x Raisin Pie ‘Hsinying’ x sib four months ago, and this is the flower that emerged! Quite sure it’s not the hybrid listed.

Any thoughts on what it could be?

[Fairorchids]

In the socalled 'Maudiae group', there has been so much inter & cross breeding, that there is very little reliable expectation, that can be assigned to any given cross. With the Supersuk parent, perhaps you would expect heavily spotted petals, but it is never guaranteed.

[aliceinwl]

Just to second Kim, I’ve purchased some Paphs from growers, including sibling plants, and in many cases the eventual blooms were quite different from the siblings pictured on the grower’s website and the sibling pairs I bought ended up being quite different from one another.

[angelabean]

Thanks so much for the input!

I suppose I was surprised by the entirely deep purple dorsal sepal. Not an ounce of white on it. Could Supersuk or Raisin Pie do that?

[aliceinwl]

I want to say that Trader Joe’s got a whole bunch of these a few years back. I picked one out with lots of spots and stripes, but mine was kind of the odd one out with most closer in color to yours. I didn’t go through all the tags but the ones I looked at were all the same Paph Supersuk something (I can’t recall the exact tag on mine), but it could be the same as yours. I really wished I picked up more because it’s been years now since they’ve carried Paphs and the one I did get has bloomed annually like clockwork.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I go into the Trader Joe’s near my office almost daily just to see if they have any weird orchids. I have acquired at least four, very odd and very healthy plants there over the years.
It’s always worth a look

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by angelabean

Thanks so much for the input!

I suppose I was surprised by the entirely deep purple dorsal sepal. Not an ounce of white on it. Could Supersuk or Raisin Pie do that?

Not sure - unless this person had the wrong tag too.

Click Here

[Fairorchids]

Did some more digging.

First, Supersuk x Raisin Pie has been registered as Paph. Hsinying Alien.

Secondly, the label as written is not clear. Two possible interpretations:

Paph. ([Supersuk x Raisin Pie] x sib) = (Hsinying Alien x sib).

Paph. (Supersuk x [Raisin Pie x sib]) = Hsinying Alien.

Lastly, I drilled down into the family tree. With Paph. sukhakulii on both sides, I would expect more spots on petals; but that is never a certainty.

The only possible source of vinicolor comes from Paph. callosum. That species only appears in the Paph. Clarissa family tree. When I looked up that hybrid, I found 5 clones with AOS awards, and 1 of those is indeed a vinicolor.

[angelabean]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Did some more digging.

First, Supersuk x Raisin Pie has been registered as Paph. Hsinying Alien.

Secondly, the label as written is not clear. Two possible interpretations:

Paph. ([Supersuk x Raisin Pie] x sib) = (Hsinying Alien x sib).

Paph. (Supersuk x [Raisin Pie x sib]) = Hsinying Alien.

Lastly, I drilled down into the family tree. With Paph. sukhakulii on both sides, I would expect more spots on petals; but that is never a certainty.

The only possible source of vinicolor comes from Paph. callosum. That species only appears in the Paph. Clarissa family tree. When I looked up that hybrid, I found 5 clones with AOS awards, and 1 of those is indeed a vinicolor.

I love this. Thank you so much for the digging. Very interesting to see that Paph Clarissa!

To clarify, my orchid is listed as a Hsinying Alien x sib.


Regarding the Trader Joe’s mentions, I actually owned another Paph Hsinying Alien x sib before, but I found it at an Austin boutique about 7 years ago. It didn’t survive my constant traveling and plant sitting at the time, but I was very fond of it (I’ve attached a photo of my old Hsingying Alien x sib for reference).

I purchased my current Paph on EBay for a very low price that had me worried if it was truly what it said it was. I’ve attached the listing, which includes exact labeling.

I would say my old Hsinying Alien x sib is a more expected outcome, and my new Paph is either an unusual outcome or a different Paph altogether!

[SouthPark]

I think that is just what happens when an orchid is purchased that is one of the countless results of a cross.

From the post at this link (Click Here), the case of no white coloured stripes appears to be encountered by at least one other person.

White stripes could be guaranteed if the orchid is a clone of a particular cultivar having white stripes on the dorsal.

If generally the results of the cross has white stripes, then that just means the probability of us acquiring a plant from this cross (not a particular specific cultivar) has a good chance of white stripes. But naturally, there can also be chances of no white stripes.