This is a Chinese species that is rather rare in the hobby, not that it is particularly difficult to grow, but because until recently almost all of the plants available were illegally collected and smuggled into the US and Europe. These rarely lived more than a year or two. However, now they are slowly becoming available as seed-propagated plants. I bought this one in 2000 not knowing that they are commonly illegally collected - as this one almost certainly was. I bought it from a large supplier at the New York orchid show. The low cost would have been a tip off if I had been more educated then ($15 rather than the $100 - $500 that CITES-certified plants carry). A couple of years later the CITES folks from US enforcement paid him a visit and he does not sell them any longer. I am fortunate in that this plant has survived and has provided in the last couple of years pollen for some crosses. I am looking for other adults with good coloration with which to cross it. This one has better coloration that most, but I have seen some with richer coloration. This is a tiny species, the flower is about 1/3 as large as the entire plant. Unlike American species which over the years will add more and more canes to become beautiful big plants, the Chinese species tend to form colonies of single-caned plants. I keep the Chinese species potted since they are susceptible to late frosts in this area. These photos are from 2001 when it first bloomed for me. I will shoot some entire-plant shots this year. I took the pot out of the refrigerator today and it should bloom in early June.

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

Ron Burch

Wow! Interesting story - as usual, from you, and makes me wish to go and find a peppermint hard candy. Beautiful!! I am loving these Cyps of yours!!

I like this one alot. Would SW Ohio Winters be too cold?

Truly wonderful :)
How big (smal) is the plant and flower?
Has the striped being passed down to hybrids? A striped is not common and truly exciting:)

Did the pollen result in any offspring?

Good growing of a lovely plant

Joakim

Hi, I am pleased that this plant has survived for several years now. It has not multiplied and it is small, about 11 inches high. I have not seen photos of this species in culture in which it is much larger. The photos I have seen of it in nature are always of small plants as well. The striping in the flower will probably be passed on to offspring. Striping like this is fairly common in Cyp franchetti, tibeticum and macranthos, and probably some others that are related to them - this is a close-knit group of species.

Ron

Very nice, I love the stripes. Are these grown in the garden too?

I have kept this plant in a pot as I am not sure how hardy it may be (as a species it should be quite hardy but I do not believe that the best conditions for its artificial culture are at hand yet). It should be hardy but relatively few growers are having considerable success with it, even in Europe where the skill level is very much greater on average.

Ron

Beautiful flower, Ron :clap:

Yes, absolutely beautiful flower. Have you tried selfing the plant? so, do these grow from tubers or corms which renew every year? You mentioned they don't multi-cane so I wonder if there is a way of inducing it to build a second tuber (assuming they are tuberous), eg with Aussie non-colony forming Pterostylis, I think just after or when the flowers start to die off, the plant is unpotted and the new tuber is cut from the old one and they are both potted and then sometimes the older one will form a new tuber whilst the cut tuber develops into a little plant.

cheers
tim

Interesting it has such a fat little lip and short and wide sepals and petals. Has it retained those characteristics the last few years? Most pics I've seen of this species have a more open form and the lip isn't quite so round. Also, your plant is quite dwarf in stature. Is there a possibility it is C. yunnanense? It is a lovely flower either way!

Ron,

Spectacular! Thanks for posting a real rarity.

Tom, an interesting speculation - I keyed this plant years ago when I first started with Cyps (it was one of my very first). Certainly I was not as practiced looking at the characteristics of the flowers back then - I will rekey to see if it is yunnanense (hopefully I have enough photos of it to be certain, if not I'll do a tentative and confirm next blooming season). The plant looks identical now to the way it did then - in a perverse way it would make sense if it is yunnanense - I have 50 yunnanense seedlings from Phytesia and they all just sit around doing nothing, like this plant, while everything else keeps growing!

Ron

exquisite!

thanks