Possible Schomburgkia (now laelia I believe)

[Aussie42]

Hi folks.

Well, the mighty spike has finally opened. The spike is over a metre to the first flowers. I had in mind that Schom superbiens looked a lot like Laelia superbiens (I have masses of L.superbiens) but without the yellow, but having done some Googling I'm not so sure it's a good fit.

The lable merely says "Jack + Bean Stalk" which has been of no assistance to me (nothing on the RHS orchid register). I assume it's just something the former owners put on the plant to remind them of how long the spikes were.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Aus.

[Aussie42]

Food for thought:

Schomburgkia | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Aussie42]

I believe it's "Laelia curly head" - L lueddemanii x L superbiens.

Laelia Curly Head at Santa Barbara Orchid Estate

Also three fifths of the way down this page in the right column:

Meke Aloha Orchids

Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Aus.

[No-Pro-mwa]

It looks like it is related to them but there is no way to know. It's really pretty though.

[FSUOrchids]

Yeah there's definitely some Schom. in those.

[Aussie42]

I have lots of pieces of Shom superbiens - pic of one attached. I'm convinced this is a primary hybrid of that. The flower spiked on this one dwarf superbiens - which are pretty long, but nothing like the length of this one.

The flowers of both are are similar though the unknown one is white in the centre rather than yellow and it's a physically smaller plant, despite having longer spikes than superbiens.

So that was my thinking, and then I came across this "curly head". It fits the bill - "towering spikes" sounds perfect and the flowers are very close. If it dwarfs superbiens, which I would have thought were fairly dang high, it's truly "towering".

I'm always open to suggestions, it's just that in the hours I've spent looking for this plant curly head seems to fit very well.

Cheers,
Aus.

[No-Pro-mwa]

There really very different looking blooms. They are neat, I like them.

[stonedragonfarms]

Great looking flowers; thanks for posting the shot of the pseudobulbs, I often feel that if more growers (and sellers for that matter) posted more than just floral shots it would go a long way in helping solve what a plant may/may not be...
Adam