Bloom Event - Coelogyne salvaneraniana

I get so lost in the spelling of that name I've no idea whether its right or not. I picked this up from Trey Sanders of Orchid Botanics (link to the right) at a show last year sometime. I have a soft spot for Coelogyne as many of my readers will notice and I have quite a lot of them. This one seems to be one of the slower growing species; it has taken the new growth months to get to flowering point. That's not to say that its been a difficult grower, there's been no problem with roots or black leaf tips, it just doesn't do anything fast. This species is uncommon as yet in cultivation as it has not long been described.

Pretty, isn't it? It's not the biggest flowered member of the genus by any stretch but it does have a dainty charm (as it were). Flowers are produced from the centre of the new growth before the leaves have emerged. The whole plant is quite small, that's a 12cm pond pot its growing in, to give some idea of scale.

The flowers are a little on the small side to get a decent close up of (I really need a camera with a decent macro lens), but I have made an attempt with my phone....

The brown and white on the lip do make a nice contrast. The flowers could really do with a couple of days more to open up properly but I'm going away for a week soon and I might miss them altogether if I don't post now. If they are still open when I return, I might remember to post again. It's rather a pity that this blog doesn't come with smellyvision because this species has the most amazing scent. It kind of reminds me of Dendrochilum glumaceum or Chelonostele sulphurea but even nicer.

As you can see, I have it in a pond pot like several of my Coelogyne species (and quite a few other orchids too) This seems to be a nice clumping species and will remain easy to accommodate by the look of things. Hopefully in future it will produce more than one new growth at a time and so more than one flower spike, too.