Look here, see what I got in the mail today! A giant Phrag warscewiczianum from Heather! :-dance: I have seen many warsces before but this one is the largest and the healtiest one I have ever seen, looks like it's on steroids! 6 large growths and in spike! :Party:

Thank you Heather and Happy Fool's Day! I know I lied that I didn't get it but since today is fool's day, I couldn't resist. :lol:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze6o1l1/wa4.jpg

YOU SNEAK!

I should have kept it. :poke:

Wow, that is one healthy monster of a phrag....

So, what's the leafspan on the guy, anyway?
I had the measuring tape out to give you an idea the other day but didn't really actually measure it.

Oh, and you're most welcome, I hope it blooms well for you. http://clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-067.gif

22" and 24+ if I stretch out the leaves!

22" and 24+ if I stretch out the leaves!

Isn't that *awfully* large for a warsce? I thought they were a lot smaller than that!

Anyone care to weigh in on this? We'd love some opinions....could this possibly be a warsce. hybrid?

Thanks!

Yes, it does look unusually large for a warsce, no doubt about that!

I just ran outside and measured my Windy Hill plant. It's leaf span is 12". So 20+ would be an April Fool's bigun.

I just ran outside and measured my Windy Hill plant. It's leaf span is 12". So 20+ would be an April Fool's bigun.

What's your cross Rick? If you don't mind....

Windy Hill X self. I got it from Whipporwill. This is the plant that I posted the "virginal birth" thread on.

Thanks Rick!
Ok, edit - I was wrong, it is also WH x self.

Hi, Rick!

Has yours bloomed yet? How many growths? If you don't mind, can you post a pic? I hope it is the real deal. I have seen many and I have another one and they are all small species but this is the only one I have seen that is this HUGE! I think it could be a hybrid and not the warsce. species. We are still hoping that it is the real deal! :unsure:

Yes it has bloomed, and its 4 or so growths right now. The flower pic is posted on Troy's site. The first blooming was only a single flower, but it was good size, and color.

Thanks Rick!
This is 'Windy Hill' x 'Midnight' - I think, correct me if I'm wrong on that, Pete?

Anyone know anything about the 'Midnight' parent?

Nope, it is Windy Hill x self.

Thanks Rick! This plant is really big and I have never seen a warsce this size.

The leaves on mine are also pointier, stiffer, and lighter.

The leaves on mine are also pointier, stiffer, and lighter.

Yes, so is my other warsce, smaller in size, leaves are shorter, pointed and stiffer not long and slender like this one is. I think we may have a warsce hyb here or even a darker version of caudatum. :(

Both my caudatum and warsce leaves are actually longer and more slender than both my lindenii and wallisii, which are much more upright and pointy like you guys are talking about.

Rick, just saw your warsce flower pic on meyers site and it is beautiful. Nice and dark and it looks like the real deal.

Ok, so what's the ettiquette on something like this? I still want to hear what a couple other people have to say, people who may have seen larger plants. But if the consensus is that this is too big to be the warsce. species, how does one contact a vendor and nicely ask if the plant you received is really what it was advertised as? I don't want to seem rude, or accusatory! :?

Thanks Peter. I don't know what to think about the present babies coming up from this plant. I will self it or look for an outcross this next flowering if it produces more than 1 flower on the spike.

Oh my...here we go again... :ohmy:

Oh my...here we go again... :ohmy:

:lol: Reminds me of your wilhelminiae issue!

I remember a decade or so ago when Phrag warscewiczianum was called Phrag caudatum var. warscewiczianum. In fact, I remember when the smaller darker forms of Phrag caudatum var. warscewiczianum were called Phrag caudatum; just like the big green ones and the smaller white-ish forms which we now call Phrag wallisii. There has been a whole lot of breeding going on in captive populations of this plant over the years and conformity to a particular size is probably not among the top traits being used by breeders.

I remember buying a flask of caudatum bred to be a smaller plant with lighter flowers and the hybridizer had chosen a larger clone with more vigor to offset some of the vigor issues with the smaller lighter flowered one parent. Looking back I think he was probably making a (wallisii x caudatum) prior to the time when taxonomists were waking up to the differences in the wild populations of what was called Phrag caudatum for decades.

I bought my first flasks of "warscewiczianum" from Tom Larkin back when it was a new species. And he bred using a plant that flowered on a 9 inch leaf span and used this size as a selling point.

A few years prior to that I bought a flask of Phrag Grande made with a particular clone of caudatum and by the time it flowered this particular parent had gone from being tagged a pure caudatum though the middle variety stage and become pure warscewiczianum and when my erstwhile "Grandes" flowered they flowered as the newly registered grex, Phrag Wossner Super Grande. It was an education in the vagaries of taxonomy and plant breeding

Now that the "species" is "defined" as being small, (is it?) it will probably produce a greater percentage of small offspring as the generations pass. As to what you have I have no clue. It looks like a big green plant. Probably a Phrag of some sort... and one in the caudatum group based on the look of the leaves. :-)

There has been a whole lot of breeding going on in captive populations of this plant over the years and conformity to a particular size is probably not among the top traits being used by breeders.

Well, at this point, I'm hoping not! Thanks for all the info, Al. It seems that this is going to remain a mystery, at least until the plant blooms. Hopefully then, we'll have some happy closure!

Thanks, Al! My other warsce that I bought from you a few years ago looks like the usual small compact warsce and it even bloomed on a 8-10" LS growth. This one looks nothing like it, HUGE, shape of the leaves are also very different. It is in spike now, so we don't have to wait too long for the flowers to bloom.

ITS A 4N WARSCE. XTRA ZCKSWCZ'S

Thanks, Al! My other warsce that I bought from you a few years ago looks like the usual small compact warsce and it even bloomed on a 8-10" LS growth. This one looks nothing like it, HUGE, shape of the leaves are also very different. It is in spike now, so we don't have to wait too long for the flowers to bloom.

It is very likley that you got one of the plants from the Tom Larkin flask made from a plant that bloomed very dark on small plants. I have since gotten another group started but I can't remember where that came from without decending into my database and it icky and dirty down there.

You know, I have never seen a warsc, a wallisii or a Paul Eugene Conroy bloom in my greenhouse. They always get carried off by people willing to support my greenhouse fuel oil habit.

It is very likley that you got one of the plants from the Tom Larkin flask made from a plant that bloomed very dark on small plants. I have since gotten another group started but I can't remember where that came from without decending into my database and it icky and dirty down there.

You know, I have never seen a warsc, a wallisii or a Paul Eugene Conroy bloom in my greenhouse. They always get carried off by people willing to support my greenhouse fuel oil habit.

Al, the caudatum that I bought from you years ago bloomed on 2 spikes the first time it spiked and it was just gorgeous. I have posted a pic of the plant in bloom here in the gallery, check it out. The Grande and Inca Embers from you also bloomed several times and the pics are also in the gallery. Both the Grande and Inca Embers are now monsters, even divided them last summer and now they are HUGE already, very fast growers!

Both the Grande and Inca Embers are now monsters, even divided them last summer and now they are HUGE already, very fast growers!

Yep, those would be my divs, also doing fab. My Grande has the honored distinction of being my "fastest root growth in the East" plant. :mrgreen:

I am rather new to Phrags but I got one last year that is claimed to be the species and not a cross (but who knows with Phrags!) and its leaves are 19 inches in length. I have a poor quality photo of it blooming last year that I will pull out and post.

Ron Burch

I am rather new to Phrags but I got one last year that is claimed to be the species and not a cross (but who knows with Phrags!) and its leaves are 19 inches in length. I have a poor quality photo of it blooming last year that I will pull out and post.

Ron Burch

Hi, Ron!

What Phrag "species" did you get? Yes, please do post a photo of it. What hybrid did it turn out to be?