Paph. spicerianum first time bloom (sort of)
 

My Paph. spicerianum is blooming for the first time for me (sort of). I bought it from Ching Hua 2 years ago in bud but the first night I had it home my cat bit the bud off :((. For some reason it never bloomed last year so this is a first for me. It has two spikes but the 2nd one isn't quite open yet. Here is the first bloom after being open for about 3 days.

OMG!!! That is fabulous!!! If you ever have a spare division, please keep me in mind! :)

Interesting! Yours seems to have rounder, more compact flowers than mine. I guess yours would win more prizes, but I like mine! Anyway, they are definitely orchids with lots of character aren't they? Mine sort of reminds me of a grandad smiling away with no teeth. Yours looks young and fresh cheeked!

Well, my bloom is pretty new. I forget what yours looked like. Can you add a picture on this thread? The pouch on mine seems chubby but I'm not sure. Guess I should look at some in OrchidWiz and see how mine compares.

Paphs seem to grow pretty slow for me but if it becomes large enough that I want to split it, you will be first to have one if you still want it.

Beautiful!

I don't think I'd actually posted a close up of mine... I have some ones I took recently, but I don't seem to have loaded them onto my computer, and I have to head off to bed. So here's an older one that's side-on compared to yours and a long shot.

I'm thinking yours might be more US show breeding, and mine more wild type?

I don't know. To me yours looks similar but a bit lankier. My side petals look shorter. My stem is fairly short compared to yours too. I bought it from Ching Hua from Taiwan so I don't know if they brees for U.S. standards really. Mine grows fairly cool and bright in winter so that could make it more compact overall.

I guess I can definitely take the 'US' out of that! Sorry! I'd been reading this article before coming to this thread, which starts with a contrast between 'show' and other spicerianums. I think the main message of the article is that we need to maintain genetic diversity. The different look of our spicy's shows that that still exists!

Re the long stem: mine did have the longest stem of the group on sale, which gave me pause to be honest. But I choose it because it's such a vigorous plant, and was the best of the ones available in that respect. Not sure if mine is 'wild typical' in those respects! LOL

Regarding the article, I think mine looks most like the one on the left. I am finding the dorsal petal reflexes a little more each day so that's something to consider too is when was the wider dorsal one photographed? I hope they don't breed that characteristic out as that is why I bought this species. I think it is cute and different from other flat dorsal Paphs.

I think how tall the stems are have lots do do with where it was grown and how much fert it had etc. Next year yours might be shorter and mine might be taller. I might add a photo of the whole plant when the 2nd bud opens.