Won the mystery plant at the local orchid society meeting

[turtleamy]

I got a spike so maybe I can find out the species in a week or 2. Is this a Bulbophyllum?

[MattWoelfsen]

Your plant looks like an Oncidium alliance plant. When it blooms you will be able to identify it better.

[turtleamy]

If that is the case it's a good thing I guess that I asked. Since bulbs are bright shade and water, and Oncidium are direct light and some drying.

Is there a happy medium that I should follow until it blooms?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

That is not a Bulbophyllum, for certain.

It's an Onc or Onc relative of some sort.

Maybe Miltassia.

[Leafmite]

I agree. Looking forward to seeing it bloom!

[PaphMadMan]

My first thought was also Oncidium Alliance, but I'm not quite convinced. Some Prosthechea look similar. Can we see a better picture of the spike and where it emerges from the plant?

For short term, keep it on the shady side and away from high temps, and avoid soggy conditions. That's a safe bet for keeping almost any orchid from harm until you know what it needs.

[Optimist]

The bulbs are flatter than hey should be, but the shape and thickness of the leaves make me think encyclia.

[WhiteRabbit]

It's Onc alliance - quite likely Miltonia or Milt X

Altho - if I remember correctly - my Onc sphacelatum had pbulbs that looked like that - so can't rule out genus Onc or Onc X

[RandomGemini]

I agree, oncidium alliance. The leaves look like the leaves on my Sharry Baby actually... so I wouldn't be shocked if that ends up being what this plant is. Sharry Baby is really common in the orchid hobby... I think every single person that's a member of my local OS has one, except for the gal that only grows phals.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I will add that most Bulbophyllums that are as large as the plant that "turtleamy" has, will not usually be given away or raffled off. (I was implying that many Bulbos are miniature to medium sized orchids, very few are this big.)

They're worth a lot of money, ($100+, up to over $500, for a mature blooming sized plant), I'm not sure that those are orchids anybody would just hand off to someone.

Not to mention, those Bulbophyllums are very distinct in appearance. They may either have huge egg shaped pseudobulbs or can have pseudobulbs that are so small they look like part of the rhizome. Some of these giants may also have short cylindrical pseudobulbs.

These giant Bulbos are also, usually unifoliate, (most of them have one fleshy leaf per pseudobulb).

None of what I just described for the giant Bulbophyllums matches the orchid in the photo that "turtleamy" posted.

It is 100% not a Bulbophyllum. I grow some Bulbos, and I've grown some of the larger ones before. This is not one of them.

It is something in the Onc Alliance.