Chysis bractescens - color variation in one plant
 

Back in late 2018 I purchased a group of Chysis bractescens. Young plants, 1-2 years from BS.

I always inspect new arrivals to see whether there are any pots with 2 or more plants, and if so, I separate them. I do not recall any doubles in that shipment.

I kept 1 plant, which by now is approaching specimen size. It has 3 leads, and from each lead, I am getting 2 inflorescences, so it is producing a lot of flowers.

Last year I noticed some color variation, which I can't understand, so this year I paid extra attention to this plant. It is currently blooming from all 3 leads; two leads have near identical flowers (white with a little yellow on the segments), while the 3rd lead is producing clearly different color flowers (an odd pink on the segments, plus some mottling deep in the lip).

I have checked again, and as far as I can tell the 3rd lead is connected to the other two. Unless this is a chimera, I can't explain this one.

Any chance that it is two plants, so entangled (from the beginning) that it isn't easy (or even possible without damage) to separate them? If they were entangled coming out of flask, by this time they could be inseparable.

I have a Sobralia that's something like that - I know it must be 2 plants (some of the flowers are white to light pink and others are butter-yellow) but it's one solid mass.

All I can say is it's stunning and I missed seeing your booth at the SEPOS show.

I did not do SEPOS this year. The show is too expensive, and they do not have enough visitors to justify the cost.

---------- Post added at 07:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 PM ----------

I discussed this one with another grower, who visited today. His first thought was a temperature difference, but the leads are just inches apart in the basket.

I also took the basket down and tried to trace the rhizomes. As far as I can tell, it is a single plant. I am not planning to repot it till 2025; at that point I will check whether that part of the plant might be separate from the rest, but it really does not look like it.