Here is the white form of Cyp reginae. This flower is on a very large plant that I received last fall. The plant has several stems, but only one flower this year - Cyp reginae gets very cross when transplanted and usually takes a couple of years to flower well afterward. In Cyp reginae sometimes one sees white slippers do to temperature during which the bud formed - in these one of the enzymes in the pathway to coloration is temperature-sensitive. Others, the true albolabium, never has any color other than the yellow streaks. They are very rare in most of North America, but based on photos I have seen from eastern Canada, they may be more common there.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y100/fundulopanchax/Cypripedium/Cypreginaealbolabium.jpg

Ron Burch

very elegant, very beautiful flower, it reminds me of "wedding dress white"

Schools out for Summer, and I am still learning stuff! Great photo! Very pretty flower!

very nice :clap:

That is so lovely, I could stare at it for hours. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photos and your knowledge with us!

Beautiful!

very Beautiful!

Ron,

Superb flower. The picture is exquisite!

Thanks for posting!

Ron, that is absolutely stunning. What a treasure. Does it have any spotting inside the lip at all?

Mark

No, this does not have any spotting. The true albolabium dont. Those with temperature-sensitive pigment pathway enzymes do sometimes.

It is a very impressive plant. I hope that by next year it will have settled in enough to have several flowers. I have selfed it so I will hopefully have a lot of seedlings growing in a few months (I will collect the green pod next weekend and should know what the yield might be by sometime in late August.

Ron

Lovely Ron
How did it go did you manage to get seedlings of the selfing?

Keep up the good work
Regards
Joakim

Hi, Joakim,

I have protocorms turning into seedlings now. The seed number and germination were identical to the usual reginae. I have also just acquired another specimen from Hillside Nursery. Theirs originated hundreds of miles away from the plant I obtained from Carson, so future seed will use the two disparate parents to keep diversity high.

Ron

Congatz Ron
Hopefully they will be with as the parent but will that be true for all these seedlings or only a few. This will be interseting to know.
In how many years do You expect the Cyp reginae to flower as an average?
Extra interesting to see how next years white will be with different parents.
I have seadlings (cycle 3) already been one year in soil so I will have to wait a few years untill I see how they look. They are normal reginae but there might be someone stange in it one never know :)
Joakim

Congratulations,
a wonderful flower and a wonderful picture

Olaf

Hi, Jaokim,

True albolabium - which this is supposed to be - will always yield nothing but white progeny. There is a specific enzyme mutation that does not allow the pink pigment to form. There are, however, other mutations of the same enzyme that yield partially functional enzyme - it depends upon the temperature during bud maturation whether the pink will be present or not. These are not albolabium but are sometime thought to be and may be propagated, yielding progeny that have bright pink, light pink, or white flowers, varying from year to year depending upon the conditions during spring maturation of the bud.

The challenge with Cypripedium, and most other orchids, is waiting long enough to see the answer!

Ron

Definitely gorgeous -- both the flower and the photo.

Any plans to mix this albinos with white Cyp mac or Cyp x vent?
Or are they not compatable?
Would be nice to see if they would be easy to grow since they are from different places.
Nice to hear your thoughts about such a mix?

Joakim