Interesting Phal - Keiki flower has no lip

[chrisdclarke]

Hey all,

Thought I would share this.
Was looking at a No ID phal at home over the last few weeks. A Keiki that had begun to grow on a spike first grew a flower bud. I was surprised to say the least.
Now it's begun to grow a flower spike. Another surprise.

The bud opened the other day. The flower has no lip. I believe the flower pattern is also different to the parent plant.

Anyway, here are some photos.





and the lipless flower

[RosieC]

It looks to be some sort of mutation of the flower. It happens sometimes. I have an orchid that was missing the lips on several flowers this time.

[chrisdclarke]

Oh wow, I didn't know a reblooming one could have different flowers! Is this a common thing to happen? I thought the flower morphology would be constant on the same plant. Any idea what sort of thing could cause mutant flowers? You can probably see the orchid copped a nice sunburn, was wondering if that could be it.

[RosieC]

Usually it's constant. But sometimes environmental factors can cause a mutation of individual flowers.

In my case I'm pretty sure I know what caused it. In your case it could be because it's on an immature keiki, often first blooms for young plants are more likely to be mis-shappen.