Bloom Event - Coelogyne Neroli Cannon

I seem to have a raft of fairly similar Coelogyne hybrids in bloom at the moment (with more on the way). This is presumably because it seems to be blooming time for Coelogyne speciosa which is a parent in many of these hybrids. The latest to pass by on this conveyor belt is Coelogyne Neroli Cannon. You may remember be getting this plant back in November. I was hopeful then that I would get the plant into bloom in the next few months. Clearly, it isn't the growth that was emerging back then that is blooming for me now, but the one immediately after it is. I went through a lot of doubt over whether it would bloom or not this time round; maybe I shouldn't doubt myself so much as the plant is clearly doing very well indeed.

As I pointed out in my original post (linked above), this is a hybrid between C. speciosa (the green form, apparently) and C. fragrans. Coelogyne speciosa turns up all over the place in various colour forms (I have several myself), but C. fragrans doesn't seem to have made it onto the British market yet (and with the state of things regarding 'brexit' it possibly never will). From what I can see of it via the the Oracle (Google), it has a more upright flower spike than C. speciosa (obviously a trait we want in the hybrid) with a striking white and brown lip ending in a distinct point, as opposed to C. speciosa which has a decidedly blunt lip, but similarly with brown markings over a pale lip.

I had done some research on the hybrid which might have been a mistake as it tends to give false expectations of what the hybrid will be. C. Neroli Cannon isn't a common hybrid in itself, and there are very few references to it in the UK (this might cast some doubt over my plant). The best records I could fine were those of an Australian grower who had remade the cross, possibly with better clones of the parents. I should point out that Australia is very strict indeed about what plant mateiral can be imported or exported, so the only way for him to grow this hybrid was to re-make it himself, giving it a clonal name to distinguish it from other plants with that name being grown elsewhere. At any rate, his hybrid came out with a nice pointed white tipped lip, and a decidedly orange column, both traits inherited from C. fragrans. He did also say that his plant had the annoyingly droopy flowering habit of C. speciosa.

Above is my plant. For this cross, the pointy lip and orange column has not been inherited from C. fragrans, although the white on the lip is a lot cleaner than is often found on C. speciosa. The flower has a very nice greenish cast which I find very fetching, and at also carries a faint but very pleasant fragrance which it has not inherited from C. speciosa which smells musky at best. You may also notice that the flower spike is not too droopy and it isn't too much of an effort to be able to see into the flower to take a photo.

As you can see, the plant hasn't grown to gargantuan proportions to produce quite a large flower (and more on the spike - the sequential flowering of C. speciosa has been retained). Hopefully the plant will produce more leads as it gets older and bulk up a bit. In the meantime, a very pretty flower of good proportions and willingly produced under my conditions. Definitely a keeper.

I'll finish with the full frontal view of the flower so you can see the amazing markings on the lip. Notice also that the lateral petals are swept well back, giving the flower a somewhat insect like appearance (another trait inherited from C. speciosa which is definitely the dominant parent, as usual with these hybrids).

I'll be back in the near future with another really lovely Coelogyne hybrid, as well as new plants.