Growth Habit of Oberonia rufilabris

[tropterrarium]

There are some 150-300 species of Oberonia out there, with quite a bit of vegetative diversity. Please note, that >90% of plants in the trade are MISidentified. Your plant does NOT look like O. rufilabris in terms of vegetative growth, but only the flower will tell for sure. Oberonia rufilabris is less caulescent (less of a stem, more of a fan). The flower is red (hence the name, but I have also been sold green flowering O. emarginata as O. rufilabris; oops.), the lip is forked, and it has a single thread-like lateral lobe on each side. The flower bracts at the base of the spike are significantly longer than those at the tip of the spike. This can be a hint even with spent inflorescences. This is also mentioned in the original description and early illustrations (Lindley or Hooker, don't recall off the top of my head).

There is a lot of mis-information on the web and in the literature. So using a the most likely misidentification on the label as a basis for culture requirements is rather futile. I generally consider Oberonia plants as noID plants (regardless what the tag says), unless they have flowered and I compared it with all the info in my >1000 page scrap book. Therefore, I have not the foggiest of how to culture any of the plants I get until they flower. I generally get five plants, and then grow them under slightly different conditions (temperature, humidity, light). Eventually, I will find out what works, but usually takes a year or two.

Your plant looks like a J&L mount. Is that where you got it from? Their O. "rufilabris India" was the green flowering O. emarginata. J&L's O. "anthropophora" was in fact O. rufilabris. If your head spins, welcome to Oberonia!

I have about 200 plants in about 30 species/morphs, so am into them.

Re growth habit, the plant will let you know. It is good that there is a new growth, because Oberonia are fickle to get established. Often the original portion of the plant dies, but the new growth will grow adapted to the new conditions. Good luck! Hope you have a good hand lens, or preferentially a stereomicroscope to look at the flowers. They are gorgeous!

[cbuchman]

Originally Posted by tropterrarium

There are some 150-300 species of Oberonia out there, with quite a bit of vegetative diversity. Please note, that >90% of plants in the trade are MISidentified. Your plant does NOT look like O. rufilabris in terms of vegetative growth, but only the flower will tell for sure. Oberonia rufilabris is less caulescent (less of a stem, more of a fan). The flower is red (hence the name, but I have also been sold green flowering O. emarginata as O. rufilabris; oops.), the lip is forked, and it has a single thread-like lateral lobe on each side. The flower bracts at the base of the spike are significantly longer than those at the tip of the spike. This can be a hint even with spent inflorescences. This is also mentioned in the original description and early illustrations (Lindley or Hooker, don't recall off the top of my head).

There is a lot of mis-information on the web and in the literature. So using a the most likely misidentification on the label as a basis for culture requirements is rather futile. I generally consider Oberonia plants as noID plants (regardless what the tag says), unless they have flowered and I compared it with all the info in my >1000 page scrap book. Therefore, I have not the foggiest of how to culture any of the plants I get until they flower. I generally get five plants, and then grow them under slightly different conditions (temperature, humidity, light). Eventually, I will find out what works, but usually takes a year or two.

Your plant looks like a J&L mount. Is that where you got it from? Their O. "rufilabris India" was the green flowering O. emarginata. J&L's O. "anthropophora" was in fact O. rufilabris. If your head spins, welcome to Oberonia!

I have about 200 plants in about 30 species/morphs, so am into them.

Re growth habit, the plant will let you know. It is good that there is a new growth, because Oberonia are fickle to get established. Often the original portion of the plant dies, but the new growth will grow adapted to the new conditions. Good luck! Hope you have a good hand lens, or preferentially a stereomicroscope to look at the flowers. They are gorgeous!

Thank you so much for this! Indeed, the plant came from J&L. It came in spike, but did not flower, however, there was no HINT of red in the flower spike, so I suspected that it was a lighter color. Maybe it actually bloomed and was so tiny that I didn't see it? (and I was expecting red, of course....)

This is my first attempt at an Oberonia. The oldest growth is struggling a bit, but the mature and new growth look healthy. I mist the mount daily (twice a day if it get completely dry).