Growth Habit of Oberonia rufilabris

[cbuchman]

I purchased a mounted Oberonia rufilabris last summer. It was mounted and the hook on the mount had the growths and flower spike pointed downward. It has been growing well, but the new growth has turned and is growing upwards.

Does anyone have any experience with these and can tell me if plant does has an upright growth habit or are the grows pendant? Pictures on the Internet imply upright growth, but the vendor says pendant growth.

I can easily change the orientation of the mount with a new hook for the mount.

[ronaldhanko]

Most of the Oberonias grow as a clump of fans, some growths down, some up, some straight out. I'd leave it and let it orient itself.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Most of the Oberonias as a clomp of fans, some growths down, some up, some straight out. I'd leave it and let it orient itself.

Confirmed.

[cbuchman]

Thanks!

[tropterrarium]

There are some 150-300 species of Oberonia out there, with quite a bit of vegetative diversity. Please note, that >90% of plants in the trade are MISidentified. Your plant does NOT look like O. rufilabris in terms of vegetative growth, but only the flower will tell for sure. Oberonia rufilabris is less caulescent (less of a stem, more of a fan). The flower is red (hence the name, but I have also been sold green flowering O. emarginata as O. rufilabris; oops.), the lip is forked, and it has a single thread-like lateral lobe on each side. The flower bracts at the base of the spike are significantly longer than those at the tip of the spike. This can be a hint even with spent inflorescences. This is also mentioned in the original description and early illustrations (Lindley or Hooker, don't recall off the top of my head).

There is a lot of mis-information on the web and in the literature. So using a the most likely misidentification on the label as a basis for culture requirements is rather futile. I generally consider Oberonia plants as noID plants (regardless what the tag says), unless they have flowered and I compared it with all the info in my >1000 page scrap book. Therefore, I have not the foggiest of how to culture any of the plants I get until they flower. I generally get five plants, and then grow them under slightly different conditions (temperature, humidity, light). Eventually, I will find out what works, but usually takes a year or two.

Your plant looks like a J&L mount. Is that where you got it from? Their O. "rufilabris India" was the green flowering O. emarginata. J&L's O. "anthropophora" was in fact O. rufilabris. If your head spins, welcome to Oberonia!

I have about 200 plants in about 30 species/morphs, so am into them.

Re growth habit, the plant will let you know. It is good that there is a new growth, because Oberonia are fickle to get established. Often the original portion of the plant dies, but the new growth will grow adapted to the new conditions. Good luck! Hope you have a good hand lens, or preferentially a stereomicroscope to look at the flowers. They are gorgeous!

[cbuchman]

Originally Posted by tropterrarium

There are some 150-300 species of Oberonia out there, with quite a bit of vegetative diversity. Please note, that >90% of plants in the trade are MISidentified. Your plant does NOT look like O. rufilabris in terms of vegetative growth, but only the flower will tell for sure. Oberonia rufilabris is less caulescent (less of a stem, more of a fan). The flower is red (hence the name, but I have also been sold green flowering O. emarginata as O. rufilabris; oops.), the lip is forked, and it has a single thread-like lateral lobe on each side. The flower bracts at the base of the spike are significantly longer than those at the tip of the spike. This can be a hint even with spent inflorescences. This is also mentioned in the original description and early illustrations (Lindley or Hooker, don't recall off the top of my head).

There is a lot of mis-information on the web and in the literature. So using a the most likely misidentification on the label as a basis for culture requirements is rather futile. I generally consider Oberonia plants as noID plants (regardless what the tag says), unless they have flowered and I compared it with all the info in my >1000 page scrap book. Therefore, I have not the foggiest of how to culture any of the plants I get until they flower. I generally get five plants, and then grow them under slightly different conditions (temperature, humidity, light). Eventually, I will find out what works, but usually takes a year or two.

Your plant looks like a J&L mount. Is that where you got it from? Their O. "rufilabris India" was the green flowering O. emarginata. J&L's O. "anthropophora" was in fact O. rufilabris. If your head spins, welcome to Oberonia!

I have about 200 plants in about 30 species/morphs, so am into them.

Re growth habit, the plant will let you know. It is good that there is a new growth, because Oberonia are fickle to get established. Often the original portion of the plant dies, but the new growth will grow adapted to the new conditions. Good luck! Hope you have a good hand lens, or preferentially a stereomicroscope to look at the flowers. They are gorgeous!

Thank you so much for this! Indeed, the plant came from J&L. It came in spike, but did not flower, however, there was no HINT of red in the flower spike, so I suspected that it was a lighter color. Maybe it actually bloomed and was so tiny that I didn't see it? (and I was expecting red, of course....)

This is my first attempt at an Oberonia. The oldest growth is struggling a bit, but the mature and new growth look healthy. I mist the mount daily (twice a day if it get completely dry).

[tropterrarium]

Here are a few images of the two species in question.

The more fan-shaped plant with red inflorescences is O. rufilabris. Notice the thread-like side-lobes of the lip, and the longer floral bracts at the base of the inflorescence compared to the tip.
The plant with more of a stem and green flowers is O. emarginata (Identified from Ansari & Balakrishnan, 1990).

The floral images were taken on a stereomicroscope using z-stacking technique; emarginata with 16 shots, rufilabris with a stack of 20 images. Notice that the little sparkly spheres on the close ups are the individual cells. So those are highly magnified.

It is not uncommon for plants purchased in spike to abort the spike. They don't like to be moved at all. They flower about once a year. inflorescences lasting for about a month. Good luck with your experiments.

[cbuchman]

From your pics, mine is definitely O. emarginata.

[DeaC]

Mine also grows like yours. It's Oberonia setigera from Andy's and is more an orangey color.

[tropterrarium]

Setigera from Andy's is correctly IDed but is different from rufilabris. Has much longer floral bracts. Andy's had rufilabris previously misidentified as " toppingii" and also as O sp. Laos.


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