Bloom Event - Phalaenopsis sanderiana, stuartiana 'yellow', cornu-cervi 4n and cornu-cervi 'flava'

As there are a few Phalaenopsis species blooming together, I thought I would do a joint post about them. We get so used to seeing garden centres full of big blousy (although still lovely) Phalaenopsis hybrids all year round that we forget that the Phalaenopsis species are both beautiful and charming in their own right. I had read that they had somewhat of a reputation as a whole for being fussy and hard to grow, but that hasn't been my experience with growing the species at all. I will say that they are a bit slower growing and don't bloom quite so frequently, but as you'll read later on, that isn't necessarily true of all of them.

So, to begin. First up we have Phalaenopsis sanderiana. Some authorities have this as a variety of P. amabilis which is the parent of most of the white Phalaenopsis hybrids we see around. Some authorities have it as a species in its own right. As I understand it, P. amabilis has broad shiny mid green leaves, whereas P. sanderiana has a definite purplish cast to its foliage and they are narrower, too.

Its a pretty flower, pretty indistinguishable from other white Phalaenopsis, really. What I have noticed about it is that the flower spike seems very slim, almost wiry, and has needed staking into place. This isn't a problem, of course as it allows me to train the spike to its advantage.

P. sanderiana is a variable species, and I must admit I was expecting pink flowers, especially given the purplish cast to the foliage. I got this plant off ebay, and it wasn't in particularly good condition, only a couple of live roots and quite dehydrated and leathery looking foliage. Not how it was in the photos. I didn't pay a lot for it, so I persevered and potted it into medium bark. This must have been a year or more ago (I got two or three plants at this time), and the plant has made a very good recovery. It is these few species (sanderiana, schillerana, stuartiana, amabilis, aphrodite) that give the genus the name 'moth orchid' because in the wild the pale coloured flowers hang below the plant giving the appearance of moths in flight, hovering in mid air. It is very difficult for us to emulate the natural mode of growth for the plants, so that their flower spikes can be allowed to cascade gracefully below the plant as nature intended. Instead we train them up a cane.

As you can see, it is still a small plant but the pot is filling nicely with roots. I wasn't expecting flowers so soon, so I'm not disappointed by the low flower count; rather I'm encouraged that it produced this many while still not 100% recovered. Good potential in this one for the future, definitely.

Secondly, we have Phalaenopsis stuartiana 'yellow'. Another parent of the modern white hybrids, but I prefer it to them anytime. Another variable species, I have the yellow form. I'm thinking I should start looking out for the white form, too, because I think this is lovely.

Yes, the colour is real. This is another eBay purchase from around the same time as I got P. sanderiana. This plant was in similar condition, so once again I'm surprised that it has decided to produce flowers for me.

I took the above photo about a week ago, and the colour has definitely darkened a little. I really like the spotting on the lip and lower sepals. If you look closely, they aren't just spots, they have all sorts of shapes to them. In addition to these lovely flowers, the plant also has very attractive foliage with silver markings overlaying a greenish purple background. It is a pity these foliage markings don't seem to come down the breeding line into the hybrids; it is quite unusual to find a modern hybrid with attractive foliage.

This is a truly dreadful photo, but it does at least show the foliage and the general proportions of the plant. As with the species above, although the flower count is not high, there is clearly potential there and I have read that a healthy mature plant can produce over 100 flowers on branched pendant spikes, so I am eager to get this plant to its full strength. It is making gradual progress but doesn't do anything particularly quickly.

Next up we have two forms of Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi. Phalaenopsis is quite a big genus, and this species comes from 'the other side of the family' from the two species I have talked about here. The first is quite a new plant that I bought from Schwerter as part of my second order from them. It already had a flower spike on it (two in fact), so I can't really claim any credit for the flower. Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi has several different forms, this one is the '4n'. All 4n means is that the plant has double the normal amount of chromosomes, resulting in a more robust plant and larger flowers. Don't get me wrong; they still aren't large flowers, but they are larger than the flava (yellow) form that I'll be describing later.

I love this species. It is really quirky, and older plants become almost perpetually blooming.  The flowers are produced in ones and twos from the ends of the flower spikes, and spikes can keep producing flowers for years so shouldn't be removed until you are sure they are dead and brown. The spikes are curiously flattened and the buds emerge from the edges. P. cornu-cervi has generally narrower and paler foliage than most Phalaenopsis which I take as a sign that it enjoys rather more light. Of course, under the growlights this really doesn't matter very much and all my plants get all the light they could possibly want.

This photo shows the shape of the flower spike rather better, though it does make the flower look bigger than it is.  I look forward to seeing this one with three or four flower spikes.

Finally, for comparison, we have Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi var. flava. Its nice to have two forms of the species in flower at the same time to be able to compare them.

Notice the lack of spots that you can see on the 4n form. Actually, they are there but you can't see them so well because they are kind of yellow on yellow. It is this kind of detail that I really like because it keeps your attention. This plant is blooming on three flower spikes, and there is a keiki forming (slowly) on one of the too. It is quite a bit older than the 4n plant above and came from another nursery in Germany. I had four plants originally, but I have sold the other three. I'm glad I kept this one, though, because I really like it.

I think that long flower spike might be the original one the plant came with three or four years ago, and it is still flowering. Now I call that value for money. The roots are wandering all over the place but I think that just adds to its charm.