Paphs with mottled leaves?
 

I only have a couple paphs and I don't know much about them. I like them because of the beautiful mottled leaves. But paph vendors seldom mention what kind of leaves the plants have and don't show pictures of the leaves. How can I tell which paphs are going to have nice leaves? Do I look for certain species in the ancestry?

Yes. I think anything with Paphs from the barbata, parvi, and brachy groups may get mottled leaves, especially if crossed with each other. All maudie type Paphs have mottles leaves (I think, still a newbie) so those are a certain bet.

I have a Paph. Pandion (venustum x fairrieanum) that has mottled leaves, same with my Claire de Lune (maudiae type), my NoID (most probably Maudiae x charlesworthii), and my Ashburtoniae (insigne x barbatum) or Harrisianum (villosum x barbatum), whichever it is. Oh, and my Delrosi (rotschildianum x delenatii) also has mottled leaves.

If you're uncertain what Paphs are in a hybrid, you can always do a grex name search on RHS website: The International Orchid Register. :)

A lot of times you can find photos of specific hybrids & species that also show the foliage if you search for them online.

The best course of action is to start reading up on the species and learn a bit about the different groups (subgenera) of paphs. From there, you can do a bit of research on whatever hybrids you're buying to figure out what species are in the background and then you can be fairly certain you're getting paphs with mottled foliage. It does take time, but eventually you'll figure it out.

The groups to focus on for mottled foliage would be the parvisepalums, brachypetalums and sigmatopetalums.

There are some some species that are exceptions to the rule. Some in those two groups don't have mottled foliage, and there are some with mottled foliage that are actually in other groups.

Also, a number of vendors categorize their catalog into groups that very roughly correspond to subgenus. Maudiaea types and parvis will be your best bet for mottled foliage. Multiflorals and complex/bulldog types usually have green leaves.

I like the mottled leaf paphs too....I have several of the maudias still with me....they are more compact in growth, have beautiful leaves, and they aren't as brittle as the solid green leaf ones....

Paphiopedilum superbiens, venustum alba, sukhakulii, (and especially sukhakulii alba) all have very striking leaves. I'm generalizing and just giving an opinion rather than referring to 'types'. I agree you could probably find some pictures online of a type if you were looking for one specific. I also have about 35 species, if you wanted to see something and I have it I'd be happy to send you a picture.

I'm partial to the leathery, crystalline texture of the parvi leaves. Especially the super contrasted leaves of a true Paph. delenatii fma. dunkel. (Dunkel is German for dark.)

Yes, a delenatii fma. dunkel is a sight to behold... :blushing:

Here's the foliage of mine:

http://www.neovita.com/orkideer/bild...58001.orig.jpg

The undersides of the leaves are a dark, dark, wine coloured red/black. From a distance it looks black, and on closer inspection it looks black with a hint of red. Just beautiful. And they seem to grow fast for Paphs. Highly recommended. :biggrin:

That foliage is stunning. I love it. I will definitely order one of those. I don't really understand these sub-catagories of paphs but after reading these posts I checked one vendor who has a whole section devoted to parvi types. I need to reread some of my books and try understand these groups. Thanks for everybody for all the good information.

You can also check this site: slipperorchids.info. I find it invaluable. :nod: