Oncidium floridanum?
 

This is one of the plants that were in the big collection that I bought from someone, last spring. The collection was mostly Florida native species. There were several untagged oncidiums in the bunch, and I did find a tag that said, "Onc. floridanum" lying loose in the load of about 100 plants. This one just opened it's first bloom, and it looks a lot like it. None of the other Oncidiums from the group are blooming, this is the only one. It has only been open for two days, so I imagine it will darken a little. So the question is, floridanum, or not?
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Hi Jasen :waving

She's lovely but I don't think that's the tag for it. Orchidwiz has 6 pictures and they all look a bit more "frilly" than this one does.

Hey Susanne, I was wondering if you could possibly check your Orchidwiz for any pics of Onc. ensatum, which is apparently the Everglades variety of Onc. floridanum. I guess Onc. floridanum refers to the Caribbean variety.....which is kind of backwards, if you ask me. The pics I've seen of ensatum look very similar to mine.:hmm :scratchhead: It would make sense, since most of the plants this came with were Fla. natives. Thanks in advance!:bowing

The little brown dot on the lip is really making me lean toward ensatum!

Hi Jasen,

It is a beautiful plant and flower! :)

I don't think it is Onc. ensatum, but on this I am not absolutely positive. The photos in Orchid Wiz of ensatum show the blooms to have a much more contrasting color difference between the petals, sepals and lip. The petals are a chocolate brown and frilly, with the lip looking similar to what is in your photo; bright yellow with or without the center spot.

Also, I don't think it is floridanum either. I have one of these that blooms in early to mid summer. :dunno: I'm sorry that I can't be of too much use on the ID of this guy.

Dear Jasen,

Your plant is Oncidium ensatum without question. Oncidium floridanum is considered a straightforward synonym according to Mark Chase in Flora North America. It is flowering off-season as it usually flowers March to May in Florida.

Hope that helps, Eric

This picture was also taken before the flower reached full color. It has browned a bit, but it seems to have a lot of tiger-like stripes in it. There are more stripes than brown, so it looks predominantly greenish. The Orchid Encyclopedia says it blooms from late winter to spring...so I agree, it is a bit early, but not a whole lot. I searched pics of ensatum, and out of ten pics, I would say at least five or six looked just like it. Besides, you know how much color can vary between siblings, so I guess we have to keep that in mind. From what I've seen, I really think it is ensatum....but that's my opinion! Thank you all for the input.:bowing

Well, it just goes to prove the fact that I am always learning...:blushing: Thanks Eric for your information, it's appreciated.