Angraecum sesquipedale

[DavidCampen]

Purchased from Cal Orchid in October of 2011. These are the 1st blooms. The unopened buds remind me of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. The spurs are about 9" long so I guess that you could call this a hemisesquipedale.

[Orchids4ever]

It's Beautiful- I like it a lot

[Leafmite]

Very nice!

[WhiteRabbit]

FEED ME!

Beautiful!

[DTEguy]

Gorgeous! I was thinking about shipping an orchid from them. I am assuming you have been there, what do you think about their plants in general?

[Tindomul]

Wow, very nice. Do you grow your plants under the coloured lights?

[DavidCampen]

Despit living about 2 hours drive south; I have never been to Cal Orchids. I have purchased plants mailorder from them a couple of times and have been happy.

[smweaver]

Very cool, David. How do you like the scent? It's a little strong for my taste, but the flowers are impressive. Have the blooms on your plant turned a nice ivory white by now?

Steve

[DavidCampen]

Both flowers are open now, the one that opened 1st is mostly white, the 2nd to open still has some green in its sepals.

Yes, the scent is a bit astringent, it is composed of phenylethyl, benzyl and cinnamyl alcohols, esters and aldehydes as well as some less common oximes. Those alcohols and esters are components of rose and jasmine fragrances also but rose and jasmine have different ratios and other modifiers that make their fragrance more appealing to humans. I have attached a chemical analysis of the scent of Angraecum sesquipedale from the book "The Scent of Orchids, Olfactory and chemical investigations" by Roman Kaiser who is a fragrance chemist at Givaudan-Roure. He describes the fragrance of some of the other Angraecum species as being a bit more pleasently floral; I will have to get some of those.

[smweaver]

The blooms are fabulous, David. And I don't think this species has a bad smell to its blooms. But I agree with you that it's a little astringent (it's always reminded me of the old Noxzema skin cleanser product).