Miniature or Baby?

[Acharn]

Yesterday, my next door neighbor gave me a bunch of badly abused monopodials. One of them was in bud and has already bloomed, so I am sure that one is a Vanda. The others probably are, too, although a couple of them are obviously immature plants that I guess would be a couple of years away from blooming.

One of them was this tiny fella. I put a ruler in the picture because I couldn't believe how tiny it is -- less than three inches high. The plant is sitting on a little cube of styrofoam plastic in the miniature pot, but the roots are already bonded to the pot and I don't know how I'll get it out (suggestions would be welcome). The plant looks to me exactly like other plants I have that I know are vandas, but it's so small I'm puzzled. I believe it's native to Thailand.

Can anyone tell if it's some exotic miniature, or just very immature?

[bitis78]

It looks like an Ascocentrum. There are several species, all of which resemble the orchid in the picture, both in size and appearance. At first glance, I thought it looked like my A. garayi (often sold as A. miniatum). A. garayi can be distinguished from the latter by its straight leaves, whereas A. miniatum has a slight curvature in its leaves.

As with any NoID, the flower will reveal all. It could be a species - or it could be one of a guzillion hybrids involving Ascocentrum species.

Cheers,
Andrew.

[Acharn]

Originally Posted by bitis78

It looks like an Ascocentrum. There are several species, all of which resemble the orchid in the picture, both in size and appearance. At first glance, I thought it looked like my A. garayi (often sold as A. miniatum). A. garayi can be distinguished from the latter by its straight leaves, whereas A. miniatum has a slight curvature in its leaves.

As with any NoID, the flower will reveal all. It could be a species - or it could be one of a guzillion hybrids involving Ascocentrum species.

Cheers,
Andrew.

Oh, wow! That would be delightful! I hadn't even thought of that genus, because neither of my two orchid books includes it, although they mention it in passing as being often used in hybrids. This little feller has what might possibly be an old flower spike (or maybe a dead root), but it's so tiny that I doubted that it had already flowered. I guess I'll just have to be patient and hope I can coax it into flowering next year. Or growing larger, if that's what it's supposed to do. Thank you for the suggestion.

[Roy]

bitis78 may be correct but I have 60 seedling Ascocendas/Vandas that look the same......
Needs a year or 2 more at least to see what happens.