Southland Orchid Show 2012

Stanhopea jenischiana with four
flowers on the inflorescence

A well grown Stanhopea jenischiana  was exhibited by Joe Kles of the Riverside/San Bernardino Counties Orchid Society during the Southland Orchid Show at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. The orchid had perfect timing and was in bud for the setup of the show. The morning of show judging the flowers opened and the plant was awarded a blue ribbon. Congradulations Joe!

 

 

Stanhopea jenischiana exhibiting
 the narrow upper hypochile

 

This Stanhopea is rather easy to distinguish from some of the other species due to the narrow upper hypochile.  It is very thin where it joins the petals and sepals.  I could not detect much of a fragrance off this flower, perhaps because it was surrounded by several other fragrant orchids!  The flowers stayed open all three days of the show, so the public was able to enjoy them as well.

 

Coryhopea Red Martian

 

Coryhopea Red Martian inflorescence with three flowers

 

This orchid is an intergeneric cross between Stanhopea martiana and Coryanthes macrantha var. aureum.  There is a lot of hybrid vigor to the plant and it grows large rather quickly.  The flowers don’t open fully and are best viewed from below. They are quite spectacular to look at and have been described as alien looking.  The fragrance of the flowers is rather similar to cherry cough syrup or cherry cola.  This is a very agreeable fragrance indeed. There are two leaves per pseudobulb. The leaves are lanceolate in shape 18 to 19 inches (45.7 to 48.3 cm) long, and 3.0 to 4.25 inches (7.6 to 10.8 cm) wide.

 



Coryhopea Red Martian flower
photographed from below

The flowers are 3.5 to 4.5 inches (8.9- 11.4 cm) wide and a deep red color with many mahogany to red spots on the sepals, petals, and hypochile.  The sepals and petals are cream to white at the tips with red spots.  The upper hypochile is orange-red to deep red in color and the mesochile and horns are yellow with mahogany spots/streaks.  The epichile is bright yellow on the lower portion with deep red spots/streaks, turning solid red on the upper portion..



Coryhopea Red Martian with
human heart shaped buds

Unopened buds are a joy to watch grow and develop.  Once they mature they almost appear to be oddly shaped human hearts.  This makes the opening of the flowers full of anticipation and almost unnerving! I grow this orchid warm and bring it indoors during the winter given that one of the parents of the cross is a warm growing Coryanthes.  It spends the rest of the year growing outdoors on the north side of my house.

 

 

Stanhopea panamensis

 

Stanhopea panamensis with five flowers on this inflorescence

 

This is a tropical growing species that thrives in warm and humid environments in tropical forests of Panama at 2,950 feet (900 m) in elevation.  This species grows in shade and dappled shade and appreciates being grown outdoors during the summer.  Unfortunately, this is one of the Stanhopeas that I have to take indoors during the winter months.  Some sources say it dislikes temperatures below 60F (14C) at night, others say temperatures near 50F (10C) are fine. Barney Greer's book mentions that a grower did well with this in Sydney, Australia growing outdoors, so there is hope that I could try this one outside when it matures a little more.

Stanhopea panamensis close up of flower

The flowers are large to 5-5.5 inches (12.7 - 14.0 cm) wide and are primarily white with dark purple spots on the petals and sepals. The hypochile is a bright yellow with the remainder of the prominent mesochile and epichile being white. There are small dark purple spots on the upper portion of the epichile and interior portion of the horns of this Stanhopea. This species was once combined into S. oculata, which it resembles. However, S. panamensis doesn’t have eye spots, has a more verticle hypochile, and a different fragrance. The flowers have a faint lily scent at first, almost like an Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum) or Moon Flower (Ipomoea alba). Later as the flower matures it has a mixture of lily and clove fragrance, but faint. 



Stanhopea panamensis inflorescence 
in bud

The buds of this species have very prominent, dense, dark brown to black scales on the sepals, ovary, and inflorescence bracts. This species is a large plant with large leaves 13-24 inches (33-61 cm) long, and leaf blades 4.25-6.0 inches (10.8-15.2 cm) wide. I have this plant growing on the north side of the house under the eaves in spring/summer. I provide it with 50% shade cloth, and about 2 hours of full morning sun per day in the summer.