Prosthechea soup!

[megrim]

This has been a growing puzzle over the last week or two for me. I had what I thought were three young Prosthechea cochleata, healthy, in bud, was excited for blooms. The first one opened looking not much like any cochleata I'd ever seen before, but I thought maybe it was just a random mutant and just would wait for the other two to open.

Didn't help.

About the only thing I can say with any certainty is that these are not Prosthechea cochleata - not species at any rate.

I purchased all three of these guys fresh out of the flask, a flask labelled 'Encyclia cochleata', all three have grown side by side in identical conditions, heat, watering, feeding etc.

They are identical, (to my eye), in terms of foliage, pBulbs, root systems and growth habits. The only difference so far is the inflorescence.


This was the first of the trio to bloom. Hoods are rich, dark plum. Sepals and petals are unmarked and much more yellow than its siblings. Fragrant all day, pleasantly so in the morning - becoming sour as the day warms up.






This was number two to bloom. Has the smallest flowers of the three. Petals/sepals are paler than its siblings, also shorter and wider. Slight speckling at the base of some of the sepals/petals. Hoods are quite pale, background hood colour very pale with maroon veining. Fragrant all day long, not as strong as its siblings, but more pleasant - like a very mild radiata.






This was the last of the odd trio to bloom, still in the process of opening buds in fact. Has the longest and thinnest sepals/petals of the three. Largest blossoms of all three. Darker and greener than the others. Hood is pale and veining is stronger than the previous plant, but still much less than the first. Interesting maroon speckles all along the petals/sepals. Has a hot, spicy fragrance in the morning only, fades to nothing by about 10am.






With the first two plants I assumed a cochleata x radiata/lancifolia mix, but with the speckles and darker colours and larger blooms on the third plant I'm stumped. The fact that all three have very different fragrance times and scents further confuses me.

I was hoping maybe some of you guys could chime in on what you think might be 'in the mix' here, so to speak.

[vjo]

I have no idea what is going on there but I do know that none of those look exactly like mine! Maybe the 2nd one would be considered on alba? Puzzling tho....Jean

[euplusia]

If you see 3 childred you don't know how the faces of the parents looked like.

[silken]

Also being first bloom, could they change with a 2nd bloom or when more mature?

[megrim]

Originally Posted by silken

Also being first bloom, could they change with a 2nd bloom or when more mature?

I'm really not sure, it's possible I suppose.

I actually rang the fellow I bought them off to see if he knew anything of the parentage - only to discover that he died a year ago

On the upside, his widow informed me that are still a bunch of plants from the same flask as mine in the greenhouse and that I'm more than welcome to them. So at least I'll get to compare a few more siblings and try to narrow down what went into this cross.

It's obviously all cockleshell species in the mix, all have had perfectly 'upsidedown' flowers. The short sepals/petal made me think radiata/lancifolia but that third plant with the distinct speckling suggests maybe even a prismatocarpa in there somewhere.

Anacheilium fragrans is also a possibility - there's visual similarities with plants 1 and 2, and speckling is not unknown on them.