Miltassia identification help!

[Twill]

Hello! This board has been an INCREDIBLE source of information as I have begun to dive deeply into this wonderful hobby! I'm hoping you knowledgeable folks can assist me on this...

After hours of research, I discovered that another orchid I have is a Miltassia Shelob "Tolkien".

This guy is exactly the same in bloom coloration and foliage, and is very happy getting the same care as the Tolkien.

However, where the Tolkien has 5 long, thin petals and one larger, "frilly" petal (which I believe is the "lip"?), this orchid has only 3 long, thin petals, and instead has 3 of the "frilly" petals.

If anyone out there could point me in the right direction on this, it would be greatly appreciated! I know it's a Miltassia, and I'm guessing closely related to the Shelob varieties. Beyond that, I'm at a loss.

[RandomGemini]

Looks like Miltassia Shelob.

The particular cultivars all look very similar, so it's hard to tell if you have 'Tolkien' or 'Webmaster'. You will never know the difference without a tag.

[Twill]

All the shelob varieties I have seen have 5 thin petals, like my 'Tolkien'.

Is it just normal genetic variation that causes the different petal arrangement? Or would that be influence from different parentage?

[RandomGemini]

That's a miltassia thing. Miltassia are a hybrid of Brassia and Miltonia. The combination of these two plants, seems to create flowers with 5 long thin petals and an elongated lip. I haven't seen a miltassia yet, that didn't have flowers like this, unless it was a miltassia that has been bred back to a miltonia, which the shelob hybrids, are not.

[CPKidofAugusta]

It appears as though your plant may have gone semi-peloric. Basically, the three normal nearly all black petals are the sepals, or the outside of the bud before the flower opens. The three other petals are 2 normal petals, which usually resemble the sepals, and the lip,which you correctly identified as the pink "frilly" petal that is much larger than all of the other petals. When an orchid produces a peloric flower, the two regular petals form not as they would normally, where they would closely resemble the sepals but have instead formed in a way that mimics the lip. That is why your plant has three "frilly" petals.

I say semi-peloric because in some cases of extreme "peloria" (is that even the correct way to put that?) the only way to distinguish which petal is the true lip is by looking at the reproductive organs in the center of the flower and establishing which one would be the petal, since it would be the one directly below the indentation in the column in the middle of the flower.

The plant has nothing wrong with it, that's just what orchids do sometimes, next time it should look just like a regular Miltassia Shelob.

Looking back I may have messed up the explanation a little bit, forgive me if you have a little bit of a problem understanding.

[Twill]

Thank you all for the excellent information!

Looking at the orchid again, and the photo attached in my first post, it appears that the petal pointing directly to the right is the actual petal.

All five current blooms on this plant are the same, and it has three other spikes forming. I'm enjoying the peloric blooms. I wish it was like that all the time!

Here's a pic of the full plant (plus its tillandsia buddy).