Odd phal blooms- missing lips, strange petals
 

Hello All,

I have two phals that have both put out an odd flower- each had two sepals, two petals, and a lone column with no lip. Is this common? Is it the result of particular growing conditions? In both cases, the buds of said blooms were on the plants when purchased, and then bloomed in my home.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ing-dancer.jpg

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...e4441-noid.jpg

Additionally, the green phal put out another bloom that was fairly normal, except one of the petals seemed to mirror the lip pattern:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...e4440-noid.jpg

While I have a background in science, I'm an orchid beginner and I don't know anything about botany. I'm curious about these oddities, so I appreciate any insight you might have!

They're fused. It's a conditional mutation, not genetic. But fun when it happens!

What she said.

:lol:

Thank you so much! What types of conditions promote such fusion? Is it related to the other petal mutation, or is that just a coincidence?

Don't know. There was an article around in the big old world wide web about peloricism in Phals. Can't say I understood it very well, too technical. Might help you understand what's happening with your plants.

Do you know the name of the plants?

Hi Ysa,

The white/pink one is Phal Brother Spring Dancer, the green one is a NOID.

I had a very similar thing happen to one of my peloric phal's this year. To start with, the phal itself was not purchased as a peloric, but it's opened up every year since as peloric. This year, one of the blooms is missing most of it's leave's.

People here suggested that it could be genetic, or that it might have somehow gotten stunted (if that's the right word). They suggested that sometimes a flower or bud might get damaged or stressed due to growing conditions and could potentially not develop fully.

Just some info I thought I would share from my post a few days ago about a similar situation.

Thanks, Paul Mc, that's interesting to know!