Stanhopea Penelope ( no way )
 

I got this one 13 years ago along with the "dodsoniana" from Hoosier Orchids. This is its first flowering. It smells like turpentine with a hint of mothballs. There is no way this can be penelope. It sould be a primary hybrid
between stan. ecornuta and oculata. There is absolutely
no indication of ecornuta in this hybrid. Primary hybrids of ecornuta have inflorescences that are two and occasionally three flowered. Never 8 flowered. The hypochile mesochile and epichile are fused together in one unite. The horns on the mesochile are reduced to small stubs or webbed and fused to the mesochile. I have included a few sample photos of ecornuta hybrids both natural and man made
The first 6 photos are of this penelope imposter. The other 4 are real ecornuta hybrids

I've never seen Penelope before, but there is one AOS award on record, 'Jinx' AM/AOS, that had 14 flowers on 2 inflorescences.

That is the same hybrid as the one I have and should never been given an AM at 80 pts. It might be awardable under its corect parentage. As it is the next person who comes in to seek an award for the real (ecornuta X oculat) is going to be compared with this imposter as to size and flower count. The judges seem more imterested in flower count and Size than any thing else. They don't check on the dominant effect ecornuta and the other primative stanhopeas have on there hybrids by checking other of there hybrids. There are quite afew other stanhopeas the have be awarded under the wrong identity. Here afew:

bucephalus 'Ruth Marie Christian' = embreei
graveolens 'Linda' = inodora = now ruckeri
graveolens 'Planing Fields' = warscewicziana
x lewisae 'Apperson' = insignis
nigripes 'Linda' = wardii
wardii 'Stoney Point' = oculata

With over 30 judging centers that meet one day each month,stanhopeas dont have much of a chance. Very few of these centers have judges that are knowiledgeable about stanhopeas. I know the the one here in Michigan where I was a themporary awards photographer for three years (It was such a cuveted job no one would take it so I got stuck with it) they did not see one stahopea come in for judgeing during that time.

Why not just refer to it as Stan. Penelope Imposter? Then you could round out your collection with Stan. Doppelganger or something. :biggrin:

Here is a photo of the other Penelope 'Jinx' imposter from the August 2003 AOS ORCHIDS mag. page585 it was awarded A AM 80 pts. by the AOS Northeast Judgeing Center on October 19 2002. Also some of the others from my list above.
The nigripes 'Linda' is on page584
The gravolens 'planting fields' is on page 564

I know nothing about Stanhopeas so I can't help you with your problem, but I just wanted to say that it's really gorgeous!! :love:

:agree:

I'm with Camille - I just think it's gorgeous!

Definitely no ecornuta in this hybrid. Its unfortunate that you had to wait 13 years to find out that it was not what you hoped for and that the scent is so bad!!! Do you have any guesses about what the other parent might be?

Steve
If I was to make a guess I would say that this penelope imposter was a Stan. graveolens hybrid. The type of spots, the mothball odor, and the shape of the hypochile strongly resemble that of graveolens.
The first two photos are of graveolens and the other one is the imposter.