Wilted Paph Flower Before and After
 

My first paph lost its flower recently. The wilting process lasted several days. I noticed the sepals were looking a little transparent and within a few days it was drooping. The dorsal sepal really hung in there till the end. The day it collapsed was the day the flower fell off.

As a side note, I am drying it—and it looks like it could turn out pretty cool :) (Pics of the dried flower further down the page, post #7)

Before:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...GP0349edit.JPG

After:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5532/1...8f18bec8af.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3818/1...115e8d8bbd.jpg

Below: Light passing through the wilting flower's transparent sepal.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7310/1...3890eda5f7.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7353/1...b55c3d5123.jpghttp://www.orchidboard.com/community...GP0350edit.JPG

How long had it been in bloom? This looks like a normal part of the flower dying process.

The flower looked very nice. Was that a Paph. gratrixianum?

I agree that is normal flower fading. Not to worry though - a very healthy plant that will hopefully give you another soon!

Sure, wasn't in doubt as to the health of the plant, just wanted to document it :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It looks like a classic hybrid from old days. Paphiopedilum Nitens. a cross between insigne and villosum.

That's kind of cool.

Dried the flower...very flimsy but still interesting and nice to keep around until next bloom :) Could be something to collect.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3821/1...a19c8446c9.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7428/1...3750879826.jpg

I just wanted to say that your Paph looks very well grown and healthy. :) And, yes, those pictures of the transparent flower are really cool.