Stanhopea tigrina vs Stanhopea nigroviolacea varieties or species:

[pmrorchideas]

I believe that fanciers of showier Stanhopea nigroviolacea should not label their plants as Stanhopea tigrina without the varietal name, nigroviolacea. There might be reasonable doubt among some about whether-or-not the variety nigroviolacea is a true separate species, and I'm not addressing that here. My complaint is that non-nigroviolacea plants are distributed as tigrina, and that the party looking for a true tigrina is hard-pressed now to find one. I've been looking for a true tigrina now for about 45 years (in the San Francisco-Berkeley area of California), and have not found a division, nor have I found a verifiable seedling for sale of the smaller-flowered, more reddish than purple striped-blotched-spotted type, yet.
I've seen plants that were not Stan. tigrina of any variety labeled Stan. tigrina (could have been Stan. maculosa, of which I have a couple, or one of the other plants with similar colors but different morphology from the Pacific Coast of Mexico), but not very close to tigrina. So...if you have a non-virus infected tigrina division or seedling available, and don't think that it is going to fund your retirement annuity, I could be interested.
Thanks,
Paul (pmrorchideas)

---------- Post added at 09:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 AM ----------

I wanted to add to this thread that I am interested in Stanhopea orchids in general, and those of the Pacific side of Mexico in particular, for they have cultural requirements that are more similar to our regional conditions. I also have interest in other species of the genus, wherever they grow. I just had a tigrina bloom this morning, a plant that I'd picked up on a club "opportunity table," (means raffle) from a very old collector. It is of the darker color form, with 3 flowers on this first blooming of this division, and 140 mm broad, each flower. Hypochil and epichil both check out correctly for the species, vs form found on the Assidensis hybrid.

[Aussie42]

Hi Paul.

I very much share your interest in Stanhopeas - I've got about a dozen species, probably over 100 individual plants. I'd value your input on the attached given your experience. I bought it as a Stan tigrina (or Stan nigroviolacia var tigrina depending on your view as to whether it is a separate species, an argument I have no firm views on either way).

I'd always assumed it was a tigrina - it fits the tigrina images I've seen and I got it with a name... The photo was taken in low light with a flash.

I have a bunch of it but I'm in Australia - if it truly is a tigrina.

Cheers,
Aus.

[pmrorchideas]

Originally Posted by Aussie42

Hi Paul.

I very much share your interest in Stanhopeas - I've got about a dozen species, probably over 100 individual plants. I'd value your input on the attached given your experience. I bought it as a Stan tigrina (or Stan nigroviolacia var tigrina depending on your view as to whether it is a separate species, an argument I have no firm views on either way).

I'd always assumed it was a tigrina - it fits the tigrina images I've seen and I got it with a name... The photo was taken in low light with a flash.

I have a bunch of it but I'm in Australia - if it truly is a tigrina.

Cheers,
Aus.

Hi, Aus;
The reason I am responding again is that I'm not comfortable in saying from this photo that this plant is all Stanhopea tigrina, and not the X Assidensis or something else, like X Assidensis X S. tigrina. The two reasons for my reluctance to say what it is, either one way or the other are that the ratio of length to width of the hypochil appears large (longer hypochil), and the gap at the apex of epichil, horns, and column stipe cannot clearly be seen in the picture. In both Stanhopea tigrina and S. tigrina var nigroviolacea this gap is quite small, which helps enable pollination by Euglossa viridissima bees. Hybrids I've seen have a larger gap. If you need a picture, I took a shot of the S. tigrina that just bloomed this morning, upward through this gap. I may have in my archives an analagous shot up through S. X Assidensis. I also have some rather odd-looking gap shots of a peloric Stan. tigrina claimed to be nigroviolacea by my friend who sold it to me, and taken up the column gap.

[Manfred Busche]

Hi there.

First of all, the photograph does NOT show a flower of S. tigrina, I sign with blood (smile) ...

Secondly, I grow Stanhopea plants in tropical Costa Rica, and I have groomed a young native to do the same,
and together we have accumulated quite a number of different Stanhopea species.

And yes, I do realize that this is an old thread and that you even might no longer be here ...