Question: Ascocentrum garayi and miniatum
 

Are Ascocentrum garayi and miniatum synonyms? I've seen these referred to as two separate species, or miniatum var. garayi, but they look identical to me.

Here's what Martin Motes says in his book on vandas,"Ascocentrum garayii, another Indochinese species, has long been confused with Asctm. miniatum, a Javanese plant. Although Eric Christenson pointed this error out over a decade ago, the confusion persists in horticultural literature."

I would trust whatever Martin Motes says about it. From everything I have read, it seems they are two different species often confused with one another. Many sellers have them mislabeled, and I would imagine many registered miniatum hybrids are actually garayi hybrids. I am waiting for my plant, which is labeled miniatum, to bloom, at which point I can confirm which it is. This article is helpful:

Ascocentrum garayi

I think there is a typo in this article (which adds to the confusion) where after describing the lip of miniatum as decurved (with picture to confirm) it says, "Its leaves are also recurved like those found in Asctm. curvifolium". Asctm curvifolium has distinctly decurved leaves (curving downward), hence my suspicion of a typo.

Long story short, I hope mine turns out to be garayi. :)

From orchidspecies.com:

"This species [A garayii] and A miniatum are very similar and more often than not this species is sold as A miniatum. The two differ in this species having flowers with deep solid orange color and very elliptical petals and sepals as well as a straight lip, A miniatum on the other hand has clearer, more transparent orange flowers with more noticeable veining and the sepals and petals are much narrower and the lip is recurved."

A. garayii

http://www.orchidspecies.com/orphotd...trugarayii.jpg

A. miniatum

http://www.orchidspecies.com/orphotd...ocminiatum.jpg

Excellent, Ray!

Those pictures clearly show the difference in the flowers. Excellent photos, Ray.

They both come from Jay's site. They're not mine.

Oh my God... Stop posting pictures of gorgeous orchids! I'm already partial toward Vandas, but so far I haven't come across any I would actually consider buying, until now that is.

The A. garayii is just too wonderful! :love: :drool: :faint:

The good news is they don't take up much space!

Thanks for all the info guys! I love Ray's pic of the garayii... all glistening and specked with dew... it's like orchid porn! LOL