Stanhopea oculata
 

This was labeled "Stan. bucephalus". It's from a selfing of a an awarded plant that was registered under that name... and awards tend to be cast in concrete. It is, however, a synonym for Stan. oculata. Fragrance is light and quite delightful. It didn't tease me the way Stan. tigrina did... this one progressed quickly, opened when I expected it to.

No more in the queue at the moment... Stan wardii, if it decides to bloom this year, won't be doing anything until late September if history is any guide.

Bucephalus was Alexander the Great's horse.

Indeed! I did know that... Assigning the name to a Stanhopea breaks all the rules of Latin... but I guess "bucephala" didn't have the correct ring...

:rofl:

that is a stunning plant!! well done

That's a gorgeous weird bloom. What's the size of those blooms? And I thought they were a fairly cool grower. What's your culture of them?

Those eyespots are quite eye-catching against the orange. Mine needs to catch up. please.gif

Flowers are about 5" across (that's the sepals, the petals are narrow and curl back on themselves) The squid-like part is about 2 1/2 inches.

It grows on the patio. So it doesn't have any problem with winter. The biggest challenge is keeping it wet enough. And it would be happier with more shade, but it gets what it gets. Stanhopeas really need to stay damp, or they lose their leaves and sulk. So I have it where it gets watered every day, on hot days I give them all a mid-day bath. In a plastic basket, I cut bigger holes when I see a spike coming. (I have used wire ones, the spikes still seem to like to emerge where there's a barrier, it's easier to cut plastic than heavy wire), and easier to keep some medium - mostly sphagnum - in.

I heard Brandon Tam, orchid curator at the Huntington Botanical Gardens, say the Huntington grows all their Stanhopeas in the cool house in baskets of long-fiber sphagnum moss that each have their own drip emitter. They are watered twice every day of the year.

That means the sphagnum must stay soggy wet all the time. I got a near-leafless, near-rootless piece of Stan. nigroviolacea at my orchid society meeting last fall. I kept it in an open plastic baggy with some long-fiber sphagnum in a window, and kept it very moist. I would turn it over to look at its bottom every week or so. It began making 7 new shoots a few weeks ago. I put it into a basket, and put the basket where it gets sprayed with water daily. So far one shoot is visible, and looks good. I don't have a cool house; my sunroom is a hot house.

Stan oculata (and tigrina and wardii for that matter) don't require cool but will tolerate it. What they won't tolerate is "dry". The have to stay damp, and also like to be on the shady side. Since they are in open baskets, the roots get plenty of air even when sopping wet.

hmmm. i had no idea there was variation in the genus. i grow all mine mounted (or sort of ) and at the top of my lath house in catt light....

I am going to go and look at my tags and research some geneology lol....might need to move them to the back wall behind the bulbos…..