Hoping to ID Trader Joe's mini Paphiopedilum
 

http://i.imgur.com/kYLLYl6.jpg

Sorry about the picture quality, I'll get a better one if I can but the plant is currently at my mom's house while it blooms.

It is about 6" tall including spike, the flower is a pale blush pink with darker pink speckling, and the leaves are slightly mottled.

Is there any way to know for sure what this is? I'm not sure how many mini paph hybrids are out there in total. Whatever it is, it was $8 and I think it's enchanting!

I don't know what it is, but I'm SOOO jealous! I only ever see the more common maudiae type.

It's definitely a brachypetalum hybrid, which hybrid and which species, I don't know. I'm assuming it's got a healthy shot of niveum, though.

Either way, $8 for that plant is a steal.

You had that at your TJ? Wow!

A lot of these brachy hybrids look very much alike, but I would safely assume it is (anthong var. alba x niveum) x niveum.
Why? Because this particular hybrid flooded the market in the recent past couple of years.
They were everywhere I turned. ;)

Thanks, that definitely looks like what I have! Even if I never know for sure, at least I know that it is mostly niveum, so that should help with culture.

I was not expecting anything really special when I went looking for flowers on Mother's Day, but there in the middle of the phals, miltoniopsis, antelope dendrobiums and generic maudiae paphs was this little gem - the only one. I haven't had great luck with paphs in the past but I currently have some helenae seedlings that are doing quite well, so hopefully I'll be able to do this one justice too!

I agree with this ID, in part because of the price (I know where they come from, and what the wholesale price is).

In terms of taxonomy, ang thong does not have species recognition, it is considered a variety of godefroyae. Thus, this hybrid is named Paph Mystic Isle.

True, Kim.

I was being lazy, the tag says godefroyae. ang thong var. album. hehe

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 PM ----------

Good!

Paph. helenae might benefit from having cool winter, while niveum like it warm year around.
The light level for both are about the same.
A bit brighter than maudiae.

Me too! I'm DYING. I'm just happy to have finally grabbed a maudiae when they showed up at my TJ's. Best value orchids on the market IMO.

Anyone need an ID? I was lucky enough to snag one at my local Trader Joe's. Surprisingly, this one came with a tag. It's listed as (Paph. Ang. Thong Var. Alba 'IC' x Niveum Var. 'Panthana') x Sib. I did a little searching online and 'IC' stands for 'In Charm'.

Wow! Which TJ has Paph?
My local TJ in CT state only has Phals