It's quite a nice plant with its darker leaves and dark flower (very violet
-like). Pity the flower is comparatively small :-( (cw. P.x"Sethos", say...)
So far, my plant looks like it will produce only one flower (at a time) :-(
Please excuse any technical errors in the description - I'm no botanist... ;-)
Leaves: Eliptic (possibly a little ovate), 2" x 1.5" (largest so far), convex,
"ground-hugging" (leaves curl over edges of pot), mid-green with
reddish "tentacles" (especially noticable in young, developing
leaves). Red colouration to outside of leaf around the "roll".
Midrib pale/white, prominent on underside of leaf, broadens towards
base of leaf, less distinct towards tip of leaf.
Flower: About 1" tall x 3/4" wide (including spur). Upper two petals
with
rounded tips, about 9 x 5mm, recurved so as to touch the
sepals/scape. Dark violet with two small white "spots", about
1mm across, (separated by a very thin line of the main petal
colour) with very dark "spots" either side (similar in size to
the white ones and extending to the edge of the petal - aligning
with those on the next petal). Centre two petals similar but
fractionally narrower (about 4mm) and almost flat. Markings a
little more sharply defined and a little smaller (the white
markings are divided by a slightly darker purple than on the
upper petals). Lower petal more wedge shaped and "emarginate"
(notched - the "lobes" and "notch" are about same width), about
13 x 7mm, curved in an almost S-shape. White markings almost
undivided and longer (about 3 x 1mm total) (ie. a stripe), the
dark markings similar length. Top of the white stripe becomes a
little greener as it enters the throat (which is white/ish).
Short, white (?) hairs/glands near throat, longer inside
(outside of flower is also hairy where the white markings
on/around the throat are visible). Scape is about 4" tall,
red/maroon except for lower 1/2" (which is white), glabrous
except for top 1/2" which is glandular (the number of glands
increases towards the flower). Spur is similar in colour to the
scape, but a little more purple, about 1" long, curved. Sepals
are green...
Is this just another P. moranensis? The VCPS list that was mentioned a little
while ago had this plant listed as just P. sp. "Pico de Orizaba". The CP-WWW
list picked up P. sodalium (= P. moranensis) as being from this mountain
- could that be it?
BFN
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Taylor [Catweasel] | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |
| rphjt@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au | Department of Applied Physics |
| Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+