Stanhopea tigrina - Column & labellum detail
Stanhopea tigrina - wonderful South American native orchids which are very incredible on different levels. The flower itself is striking in contrasts and size - usually over 20cms across. It central parts are very thick and heavily constructed and form a pollination trap for a large euglossine bee. The bee enters through the side between the column and the very fleshy labellum to take the nectar and then is forced to leave through the front of the flower taking the pollen off the end of the reproductive column on it's back to the next flower. You easily know when Stanhopea tigrina flowers have opened because you can smell the flowers from right down the yard. It is a very rich ( overpowering) chocolately vanilla smell
Amazingly, the flower spikes pierce downwards and for that reason are nearly always grown in wire baskets with bark holding the potting mix. The flowers pierce straight through the paperbark. It is difficult to get a get shot of these flowers on the plant for that reason, so I cut them off and tied them to a camellia plant to see what I could do.
There around 90 different species of Stanhopeas which range in colour from white to green, pure yellow to dark like this one and many with a gorgeous and bold spotting pattern. Stanhopea tigrina is often confused with the species nigroviolacea ... a problem which was resolved by a good friend from the Manly Warringah Orchid Society, Barney Greer, who became an Australian and World authority on identifying the species within the genera. nigroviolacea is somewhat duller in colour and there are apparently differences in the floral parts of the flower.
This plant was given to me by another friend, who had been given by the widow of a WWII veteran and it had originally been brought back to Australia from Hawaii, where it is not native.
Stanhopea tigrina - Column & labellum detail
Stanhopea tigrina - wonderful South American native orchids which are very incredible on different levels. The flower itself is striking in contrasts and size - usually over 20cms across. It central parts are very thick and heavily constructed and form a pollination trap for a large euglossine bee. The bee enters through the side between the column and the very fleshy labellum to take the nectar and then is forced to leave through the front of the flower taking the pollen off the end of the reproductive column on it's back to the next flower. You easily know when Stanhopea tigrina flowers have opened because you can smell the flowers from right down the yard. It is a very rich ( overpowering) chocolately vanilla smell
Amazingly, the flower spikes pierce downwards and for that reason are nearly always grown in wire baskets with bark holding the potting mix. The flowers pierce straight through the paperbark. It is difficult to get a get shot of these flowers on the plant for that reason, so I cut them off and tied them to a camellia plant to see what I could do.
There around 90 different species of Stanhopeas which range in colour from white to green, pure yellow to dark like this one and many with a gorgeous and bold spotting pattern. Stanhopea tigrina is often confused with the species nigroviolacea ... a problem which was resolved by a good friend from the Manly Warringah Orchid Society, Barney Greer, who became an Australian and World authority on identifying the species within the genera. nigroviolacea is somewhat duller in colour and there are apparently differences in the floral parts of the flower.
This plant was given to me by another friend, who had been given by the widow of a WWII veteran and it had originally been brought back to Australia from Hawaii, where it is not native.