violacea vs bellina - Orchid Board

philoserenus · #1 12-19-2007, 11:08 AM

hey guys, i just got one of these for my friends and itz spiking--it not that big; the largest leaf is 3"x2" (i will post pics when i get my camera back, haha). it was labeled as violacea and then sold me by the vendor as bellina...

wats the difference? all she mentioned is that the bellina is more 'starry' than the violacea in terms of flower shape. not like my friend will know or care of the difference, but i'm interested in knowing

quiltergal · #2 12-19-2007, 12:51 PM

There's a big difference in color. Violacea is purple/magenta, and bellina is green with magenta center.

IOSPE PHOTOS

IOSPE PHOTOS

They are both beautiful and fragrant.

Phantasm · #3 12-19-2007, 01:30 PM

These two species are closely related and were both originally named as Phal violacea. One was called violacea 'Malaysia' and the other was violacea 'Borneo'. The Borneo form was split off under Phal bellina. Many of the old Phal violacea crosses were actually made using Phal bellina since it is a generally larger and more striking flower.

philoserenus · #4 12-19-2007, 02:45 PM

oooh okok, so i guess the main way to tell which is which is just allow it to bloom and then look at itz characteristics?

Phantasm · #5 12-19-2007, 07:42 PM

I'm not sure if there is a way to ID between the two species when they are out of bloom. Probably not since they are very closely related. The only difference might be that Phal violacea is a bit smaller plant but if you have a juvenile Phal bellina it would be tough to determine.

philoserenus · #6 12-19-2007, 11:50 PM

haha ya, but im not gonna wry about it too much, it was really out of interest of knowing for sure. might be a violacea. the plant is really minute and itz already spiking

Neverend · #7 12-21-2007, 08:26 AM

There is a way to ID violacea and bellina based on leaves, but it's rather inaccurate due to the possibility of mislabelling/outdated labelling (bellinas labelled as violacea var. borneo), and also it might not be a true violacea or bellina (could be samera).

Violacea leaves are generally rounder, while bellina leaves are generally more oval.

Phantasm · #8 12-21-2007, 12:31 PM

There are also different populations of both species with variation of leaf shape and size. General rules work until they don't....

philoserenus · #9 12-21-2007, 02:35 PM

from the way you guys are talking about these two species, no wonder they were used to be considered as one.

well here are 3 pics of the bellina/violacea--the pot is a 3.5"x3.5"

it also has a spike too, too bad this phal aint mines for the keeping, haha. only orchid-sitting it until i see my friend (her birthday present)