Unidentified Encyclia....

[gixrj18]

All right, here's a little background on this plant: It came from a collection I bought last year (80-90 plants) that was predominantly species from Florida, and the surrounding areas and islands. I have narrowed it down to these possibilities: Enc. cajalbanensis, Enc. oblongata, Enc. papillosa, and Enc. tampensis. I am leaning strongly towards tampensis, but the bulbs look larger than my other tampensis plants.....what do you guys think?

[JonnyBravo]

sure looks like the hundreds of tampensis i've seen in the wild, as well as the few captive-propagated i have purchased for my collection. the larger p-bulbs are not a surprise, as leaf and p-bulb size can be highly variable. one of my home plants has pseudobulbs that don't get much bigger than a large pea. one wild plant i saw down south had bulbs that were almost 3" long.

[JonnyBravo]

btw- that is a sexy little flower you have there! the size and uniformity of the pink spot, the pink up under the column, multi-branched inflorescence... i'm jealous and drooling!

[gixrj18]

Originally Posted by JonnyBravo

btw- that is a sexy little flower you have there! the size and uniformity of the pink spot, the pink up under the column, multi-branched inflorescence... i'm jealous and drooling!

Thanks for the input. Do yours bloom at different times also? Because I have a pea-sized bulbed one (like you mentioned) and an alba, and neither of them are spiking. This is what made me think that it may be something else. I'll post better pics when it finishes opening.

[JonnyBravo]

weird. i see that you also live in FL, so our Enc. should be blooming at abooout the same time unless you live in the far northern part of the state. that might put yours a few weeks behind mine. right now ALL of my encyclias are spiked and just about to pop-- tampensis, tampensis alba, (Pros.) cochleata, (Pros.) radiata... i did have some trouble blooming them at first when i didn't give them much of a dry spell during the winter, but now they all tend to start spiking in april-may.

but to maybe answer your question, yes. a couple of my Enc. and especially my tampensis will go off at weird times. it's usually just one or two p-bulbs at a time during the off season, though, and then the same plant (but different p-bulbs, obviously) will produce a larger bloom at its usual time.

[gixrj18]

Originally Posted by JonnyBravo

weird. i see that you also live in FL, so our Enc. should be blooming at abooout the same time unless you live in the far northern part of the state. that might put yours a few weeks behind mine. right now ALL of my encyclias are spiked and just about to pop-- tampensis, tampensis alba, (Pros.) cochleata, (Pros.) radiata... i did have some trouble blooming them at first when i didn't give them much of a dry spell during the winter, but now they all tend to start spiking in april-may.

but to maybe answer your question, yes. a couple of my Enc. and especially my tampensis will go off at weird times. it's usually just one or two p-bulbs at a time during the off season, though, and then the same plant (but different p-bulbs, obviously) will produce a larger bloom at its usual time.

I'm in Holiday, right down the road. All my Encyclias are blooming....except the tampensis

[JonnyBravo]

well, that's just no fun at all! i'd offer advice, but nothing definitive comes to mind and you probably have more experience than i do... besides, as long as you're giving a winter rest and lotsa lotsa lotsa light, tampensis pretty much do all the work for you. must just be an "off" year for yours, and you'll probably see it give a smattering of out-of-season blooms. wish i could tell you something solid...

[gixrj18]

Well, it's just about in full bloom now....here's some pics.