Vandaceous my SIL gave me

[Acharn]

My late wife's sister gave me this nice little monopodial. I think it's a Vanda, but am not sure. Fortunately it's blooming so there's a chance it can be pinned down. I've heard that most of the monopodials herre in Thailand are not hybrids, like the dendrobiums, so I'm hoping to get some specific growing guides. The blossoms are about 4-5 cm. (about 1.5 inch) across.

[WhiteRabbit]

It's beautiful!

[Acharn]

Browsing last night, long after I should have been in bed, I decided there's a chance it's an Ascocenda. I think that means we probably won't be able to put a more specific nave to it because it would be a hybrid -- Vanda with Ascocentrum. I wish I was able to use proper botanical identification techniques.

Anyway, the SIL has a bunch more she wants to give me. All very young monopodials. My guess is they are all three to five years away from blooming. Normally I'd welcome them, but she referred to them as "forest orchids," which would be plants collected from the wild. I kind of doubt that, because Thailand doesn't have a lot of forest left, but it's possible. The thing is, many people here have told me that growing "forest orchids" is hard.

[Fairorchids]

Definitely a hybrid.

With darker color on the edges of petals & sepals, it is possible that there is either Rhynchostylis coelestis or some Aerides (usually lawrenceae) in the background. As far as I can see from the leaves, I am leaning towards the Rhynchostylis.

[Acharn]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

Definitely a hybrid.

With darker color on the edges of petals & sepals, it is possible that there is either Rhynchostylis coelestis or some Aerides (usually lawrenceae) in the background. As far as I can see from the leaves, I am leaning towards the Rhynchostylis.

Ah, thank you. I didn't think to look there. Should have remembered that species from a few years ago when I had a similar ID question. That's one of the species common to Thailand. The SIL told me she had never fertilized any of them and only watered occasionally, so that might have affected the color. I think.

[dendro king]

Definitely an ascocentrum or ascocenda.

[Acharn]

I have a feeling that's about as close as I'm going to get. Well, I'll just treat it like a Vanda and see how it responds. I don't think there's much danger of over-watering. My biggest problem is giving them enough sun while protecting them from the noonday direct sunshine.

[orchidsamore]

No comment on the ID but wanted to mention that the ascocentrum family has been determined to be insufficiently different from Vanda to justify the distinction so they are all now Vanda. ascocentrum or ascocenda no longer exists as well as Neofinita and all the intergeneric families that were breed from Neofinita falcata.

[Acharn]

Thanks for the info. I probably wouldn't have found out about the reclassification for several years. I wonder if this is going to affect the Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia, which has been my goto source. Is there a better resource for IDing? Using the IOSPE is very tedious, but I don't have time to take a university course on botany, even if one were available here, and a first-year course probably wouldn't cover orchids anyway.

[Picotee]

I wonder if it might be a rhynchocentrum?