Vanda coerulea

[Fairorchids]

Peter,

I am all for the species myself.

However, in my discussion with Dr. Motes, he was quite clear that non-twisting petals + strong tesselation (coming from sanderianum) are a clear indication of hybrids.

I have hybrids with relatively short leaves too, but the flowers are a dead give-away that this is not the pure species.

[PeterNL]

Even V.coerulea species itself has many different appearances of the flowers and plant. Clear and heavy tesselation or none. Color range from blue to white to pink. Larger or smaller flowers.
One characteristic is always there: the sharp hooks at the sides of the lip. With hybrids these hooks are no longer there, or fading away to smaller, even a plant with 3/4 coerulea ancestry has heavily reduced hooks.
Indeed V. coerulea plants do have short leaves. But i have seen plants in the wild with leaves of 20cm each side, Like i said, this species has many different forms.

I must say that out of V. coerulea and V. sanderiana as parents to start with, there are some stunning hybrids appeared during the years, and carrying attractive habits for cultivation.

[Bayard]

Below is an image of Vanda coerulea Lord Rothschild’s Variety.

I submitted a seedling of this variety for virtual judging during the pandemic.

Interestingly, the petals presented sideways, but after taking the plant outdoors for a video and shots of the whole plant, they rotated 90 degrees within a day!

I believe that over 100 years of line breeding can result in the flowers of this variety that we see today.

Please see the comments from Dr. Motes:

Virtual Orchids - Week 31 Plant 2 Vanda coerulea

[PeterNL]

Another photo of V. coerulea showing the lateral sidelobes of the lip, ending in a sharp hook, Mr. Motes and me are talking about. A characteristic of this V. coerulea.
The other photo shows the tendency of twisting petals.

[smweaver]

Kim, in the second slide you posted, where the plant is identified as, "Posted on Ebay as Vanda coerulea with pink flowers," is that a hybrid or is it the species?

Peter, your V. coerulea is quite attractive. The blue vandas are always kind of mesmerizing to me. Congratulations on the flowers.

[Fairorchids]

Originally Posted by smweaver

Kim, in the second slide you posted, where the plant is identified as, "Posted on Ebay as Vanda coerulea with pink flowers," is that a hybrid or is it the species?

Peter, your V. coerulea is quite attractive. The blue vandas are always kind of mesmerizing to me. Congratulations on the flowers.

The Ebay plant is definitely a hybrid. The foliage is 100% non-coerulea.