A new Paph spicerianum

[Fairorchids]

6 weeks ago I purchased 1/2 a box (15 plants) from Lehua, including a couple of spicerianums. One plant had leaves 1.1/2 times the width of the other, so I held on to that one.

Photo was taken on Sat Nov 22, and shows the flower just barely open. It has a spectacular dorsal, so I elected to use this plant for a remake of Paph Leeanum, which is in the background of 65% of all Paph hybrids registered.

When I was in the greenhouse a week later, the base of the dorsal had rolled a little, but it is still far better than any of my 8-10 other spicerianums. I can't give you a picture of the mature flower, as I remove the slipper when pollinating.

You might debate whether it is worthwhile remaking Paph Leeanum. I think that the line bred plants available now have the potential to improve on the Leeanums bred 100-130 years ago.

I used my probably tetraploid Paph insigne 'Piping Rock', which comes from a selfing of var. 'Harefield Hall'. At least I have used premium parents, so now we just have to wait 5-8 years to see the results.