Unknown Vanda, possible species?

[Aussie42]

Hi folks.

I'm a bit surprised at this Vanda as I thought the flowers would be much larger. It's a large plant. I have 4 more larger Vandas that look very, very similar and also have nearly identical buds on them, so I may have (at least) 5 pieces of this same plant.

I suspect it may be a species as I'd believe a hybrid would probably be showier.

It is quite strongly perfumed.

Any ideas on a name would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Aus.

[trdyl]

It is deffinately an Aerides. I will try to narrow it down for you later on if no one else does.

[Aussie42]

Thank you Ted.

I'd never heard of Aerides, but there's a lot I haven't heard of ;-)

Aerides lawrenceae looks pretty close. Any thoughts?

[Angurek]

Definitely looks like Aerides lawrenceae to me.

[Roy]

That is a definite Aerides lawrenciae. By the other plants nearby, you have a few more Aerides also.

[trdyl]

Aussie42,

It really does look like Aerides lawrenceae. Isn't it Spring for you? But, then again it would not be the first time orchids bloomed out of season either.

[Swamper]

yup what they said, I love that smell.

[Aussie42]

I have 10 Aerides - 1 in bloom, 4 with spikes that should open any day, 4 smaller plants and 1 larger plant that probably should have flowered this season.

The plants with spikes have identical buds to the pictured plant and I think it is very likely they'll all be lawrenceae. And I wouldn't be surprised if the other 5 turn out to be the same thing in time.

It's the last week of spring here. The last week of winter/August was a rather nasty heat wave, the hottest week on record for 50 years or so if I recall correctly. This may have confused the plants a bit if they're not traditionally late spring flowerers.

This is great - the only thing better than putting a tag on a NOID is putting tags on 5 NOIDS!

The fragrance is much stronger this morning. I'll have to bring one or two of these into the house, rangy roots permitting.

I might pollinate one or two flowers and do up a few flasks just for general mischief. It's all good fun.

Cheers,
Aus.

[Roy]

With you crossings, try to use 2 different clones, selfings aren't very to totally unsuccessful.

[isdaojon]

I do agree with you all that it is a aerides but It looks more to me like Aerides odorata. They are pretty much the same except for the size(Aerides lawrenceae being the bigger one). Also, as the name suggests, aerides odorata has more scent. Hope this helps!