Any suggestions on genus? - Orchid Board

Bloomin_Aussie · #1 04-02-2009, 06:55 AM

I picked this poor thing up at a nursery a few months ago. It was sitting there so sad, lonely and neglected I couldn't possily leave it there. Anyway, after I took it home I found it was growing (or should I say surviving) in a mix that was more garden soil than anything. Most of the roots were completely rotted and the rest were barely good enough to anchor the plant in the pot. Anyway repotted in a nice open mix with a couple of strands of sphagnum around the base and it's looking somewhat happier now. What I want to know now is... what the heck is it? To me it looks a bit like a Coelogyne but I wouldn't have expected to find one of those in a low budget nursery. Any other suggestions?

Oh I should add that this is in a 6" pot so it is a reasonable size. Biggest pseudobulbs probably about 3" long.

lepanthes89 · #2 04-02-2009, 10:34 PM

Coelogyne is a good guess;If its a new world orchid,it could be a Xylobium sp..It certainly looks like one.
only when it blooms.........
good luck.

Bloomin_Aussie · #3 04-02-2009, 11:03 PM

Yes, I guess I'll have to wait and see.

kiki-do · #4 04-02-2009, 11:12 PM

Not sure. But I have a Bifrenaria harrisoniae that looks so much like yours. If it is that one, it completely rests in winter and comes alive about now. And if you find that it is this one, don't spray the leaves, they don't like that. Research Bifrenaria and see if it's the same.

Bloomin_Aussie · #5 04-02-2009, 11:38 PM

Hmmm... good suggestion although all the pics I have found seem to show only a single leaf per pseudobulb. That would be the sort of plant I would expect to find in a nursery like that... something a bit more showy because I would have thought Coelogynes were a bit bland for the average plant buyer market.