Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Pretty picture: Paphiopedilum armeniacum

Sometimes when people talk about yellow being a cheerful color, I want to counter with, oh yeah? Well what about dingy laundry? Or dying leaves?1 In this case, though, even I have to admit that this is a seriously cheerful-looking flower.


P. armeniacum is fairly new to cultivation (late 1970s / early 1980s, depending on whom you believe). I gather from some minimal googling that it's also fairly difficult to grow. There are some extremely precise recommendations here, though I can't vouch for their accuracy. P. armeniacum is also somewhat unusual in that it produces plantlets on runners, like a spider plant or strawberry begonia.2 A photo of such a runner can be found here.

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1 (I actually find it extremely weird that we assign emotions and genders to specific wavelengths and intensities of light in the first place, but that's something to discuss another day, I suppose.)
2 (It's possible that there are lots of other orchids that do this and I've just never heard of them before, I suppose. The concept was new to me.)


3 comments:

orchideya said...

Yes, they and also paph. micranthum produce runners and those runners can travel under the medium pretty far from the mother plant. If you plant armeniacum into basket - it will create wonderful display after a while. Here is the picture:
paph. armeniacum in the basket
I have one plant that bloomed this spring and now is growing two runners.

Nick Jones said...

Wow! This has been been the loveliest photo of Paphiopedilum armeniacum or golden slipper orchid I've ever seen so far.Thank you so much for sharing this one.

Garden Broad said...

That's so cheery it's flourescent!