purple phal with stiff freckled leaves

[kristinL356]

I wouldn't usually bother trying to get an ID on a NOID phal but this one seemed somewhat unusual. It has very stiff, firm leaves with some light freckling on them and quite purple on the underside. They're not shiny at all either. The flower is not as unusual but it does lack the two little curly guys on the lip that phals often have. Does it look familiar to anyone?

[estación seca]

At one time a group of plants were called genus Doritis. Doritis had upright flower spikes, and some species had brilliantly pink flowers. They have been sunk into Phaelanopsis. Crosses were known as Doritaenopsis, and you can still find them sold as such.

This plant looks like one of these species, or a hybrid.

[kristinL356]

It does have a very tall, very upright flower spike.

[jkofferdahl]

It's the flower shape, and especially the lip, which indicate the Doritis ancestry. It's a pretty flower, but with the millions of Phalaenopsis (and former Doritanopsis) hybrids now existing in the world it's highly unlikely you'll be able to specifically identify your plant.

[estación seca]

There is a slight horticultural difference between Doritis and Phalaenopsis: Doritis and hybrids are even more prone to root rot than Phalaenopsis if kept wet for too long. Be sure you let this dry between waterings.

[kristinL356]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

It's the flower shape, and especially the lip, which indicate the Doritis ancestry. It's a pretty flower, but with the millions of Phalaenopsis (and former Doritanopsis) hybrids now existing in the world it's highly unlikely you'll be able to specifically identify your plant.

Yeah, I'm aware. Like I said, I wouldn't normally bother trying to ID an NOID phal but since this one seemed so different from the hybrids I usually see, I didn't think it'd be completely undoable to point to a species and say 'it probably has some of that in it.'

---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

There is a slight horticultural difference between Doritis and Phalaenopsis: Doritis and hybrids are even more prone to root rot than Phalaenopsis if kept wet for too long. Be sure you let this dry between waterings.

Thanks for the tip!

[jkofferdahl]

The more I look at the flower, the more I think it's at least strongly influenced by Phal. (aka Doritis) pulcherrima. I can't really see the lip clearly enough to tell if it has ridges running from back to front but if it is then it's quite likely a cultivar of the species itself.

As ES said, pulcherrima needs a bit more dry time than other Phals. It further needs more humidity. The species loves to be either mounted or in a pot it can essentially climb out of, sending out aereal roots everywhere, but without the humidity the roots too quickly dry out.

[kristinL356]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

The more I look at the flower, the more I think it's at least strongly influenced by Phal. (aka Doritis) pulcherrima. I can't really see the lip clearly enough to tell if it has ridges running from back to front but if it is then it's quite likely a cultivar of the species itself.

I've been looking at the P. buyssoniana (the flower looks very similar but the description of the leaves from the IOSPE page is dead on), which itself apparently used to be considered a variant of P. pulcherrima. The pulcherrima is a little confusing for me since I'm not familiar with the species myself and from the pictures I've found online, it seems highly variable. It does have ridges on the lip but only very faintly so I think probably not full pulcherrima. I did however find a photo of a pulcherrima x buyssoniana that it looks almost identical to save for the shape of the outer petals. I read that the buyssoniana is the only natural tetraploid of the phals and I'm tempted to count its chromosomes just to see what it comes out as.