which are the sepals & petals
 

When I look at the blooms of a Masdevallia or Dracule other than the labellum I have a hard time figuring out the petal and sepal configuration, which is which. Can someone help out a neophyte with his perplexity :D

Paul aka Pokey

The most conspicuous parts are the sepals, each often with a "tail", often partly fused to each other. Lip (1) and petals (2) are much smaller.

If I loaded the photo correctly, then the sepals in this photo are the three with the tails, the labelum is up inside and the other 2 petals can't be seen???

Orchid Care
Maybe this will help.

Bill

Very helpful in answering my question and then some. Thanks much

Paul

That will depend on how good your eyes are. :biggrin:

With many if not most of the masdies and other pleuros, the petals are visible (if one knows where to look and has good eyes or a magnifying glass) but are much reduced. The following are a couple photos which should prove useful, I hope.

**NOTE: Neither of the following photos are mine. I found them on the web and have co-opted them for edification purposes only. I have greatly cropped both images to tighten the focus on the floral parts in question and added arrows which are pointing specifically at the petals.

This image is from IOSPE PHOTOS
With this particular species, the petals are unusually large for a masdie or pleuro. However, for as an introductory example it serves quite well, I think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps11aa9968.jpg

This image is from Orchids in Bloom: Masdevallia welischii 'Rip Hoff'
Notice in this species that the petals are extremely reduced. This is typical of most of the Pleurothallid Alliance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ps8088cf45.jpg

thanks everyone for the very useful information. I really appreciate it.

Paul