The Orchid Garden

Neo. falcata colored form?

Question:

I have some Neofinetia falcata varieties. Some are white and some are other colors. They are mostly registered Japanese plants, not hybrids. Some, but not all of the plants with pure white flowers do show some reddish pigment on the developing inflorescenses. Some have "spikes" that are pure green. I would say that more pronounced the reddish color of the "spike" is, particularily if the color is a dark, purplish-red and is uniform, not patchy, that you are very likely to have a flower with at least a pink nectary. Neofinetias will produce some patchy reddish pigmentation of the leaves when in higher light levels, so it shouldn’t be surprising that some of this pigment may show up on a developing inflorescence, even when the flowers are white.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi folks,    I traded a division of my Cym. Golden Elf with a woman in my orchid society for a division of her Neo. falcata, flowers unseen, which has grown slowly for me over the winter and is now in the process of throwing out a spike!  As the spike has grown, it has taken on a brilliant acanthocyanin purple, which leads me to wonder if it’s a pure white Neo. form or if it’s one of the colored ones. Can someone with experience in Neo’s shed light on this?  Do the white ones have purplish spikes as well?  Or is it just the colored forms (like pink or blue) that exhibit this? — Prem – Animator, programmer, and orchid and fossil nut extraordinaire… – DNRC Title: Minister of Lightwave 3d Plugin Design Foolishness – Home – http://www.PremDesign.com "We in our foolishness thought we were wise He played the fool and He opened our eyes We in our weakness believed we were strong He became nothing to show we were wrong." "God’s Own Fool" – Michael Card

Response:

Prem, Every picture I have found of the pure Neo. falcata is white with perhaps a tinge of yellow on the interior. Perhaps, yours is a hybrid of some sort.  I just checked Pridgeon’s Encyclopedia and a couple of others.  Here is a link to Jays Encyclopedia on-line: http://orchidspecies.com/indexme.htm

Hi Pam,    there are indeed colored forms of Neo. falcata…usually with a light blush of color on the flower with deepening color into the spur.  The flower color varieties are usually pinkish, bluish, and yellow.  The following web page is from a dedicated "Fuukiran" (branch of gardening devoted to Neo. culture) practitioner in Japan.  You can see many of the various flower color and leaf variegation forms shown there. http://www3.lunartecs.ne.jp/~lemon/fuukiran/English01.htm — Prem – Animator, programmer, and orchid and fossil nut extraordinaire… – DNRC Title: Minister of Lightwave 3d Plugin Design Foolishness – Home – http://www.PremDesign.com "We in our foolishness thought we were wise He played the fool and He opened our eyes We in our weakness believed we were strong He became nothing to show we were wrong." "God’s Own Fool" – Michael Card

Response:

Prem, Every picture I have found of the pure Neo. falcata is white with perhaps a tinge of yellow on the interior. Perhaps, yours is a hybrid of some sort.

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