Hello
I have seen a very red cypripedium on a webpage where it acts as an illustration.

http://www.minax-bio.co.jp/top.html

The third flower in the question and answer part.

Now I wonder if anyone can guess or tell me what it is since I can not find anything similar anywhere.
I do not know if the colors are real or if the photo is slightly "fixed". I hope people here are able to give me or give some direction of what it is.
I was told by a Japanese friend that the question and answer was not really having anything to do with the picture but one can never be sure.

Hoping for some information
Joakim

Could it be macranthos?

that's what i thought too

not sure if this will help any, but the second part of the name is translated as :-

many distinguished rice field flower

My guess is that this is a nice red macranthos. The breeder who runs the web site is quite a specialist in macranthos. This is a quite variable species in terms of color. In particular some of the far northern Japanese and Siberian islands have magnificient red forms. In Europe, Crustacare has some nice red plants and in the US Steele has a very nice red form that he sells as seedlings. There are undoubtedly other European sources of red-flowered plants but I have not had access to them here in the US.

Ron Burch

Joakim,

It indeed is just one of his various macranthos forms. Is the color accurate? Probably not too far from the truth. Being a nice form it would fall under the umbrella name, 'hoteiatsumorisou', and fetch a price that would knock your eyeballs out (think $250-300 US for an adult plant, $50-60 US for a deflasked seedling).

Color isn't the only issue here. Many forms also have wider segments and laterally compressed slippers (as though they were pushed down from the top). Generally speaking, the more compressed the lip, larger the flower, and darker the color, then the more expensive the plant. I've seen some listed for nearly $2000 US per adult plant. Paler flowers of modest size (falling under the name 'speciosum' in the west) fetch far lower prices (say $60-100 US).

I'll see if I can dig up any photo examples to post.

Tom

Here's what I could find on the net:

Speciosum type in nature:

http://kasuga.web.infoseek.co.jp/comment/atsumorisou.html

Hoteiatsumorianum types:

Plants at a show, probably wild collected at one time:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.angelchiyoko.net/mt/archives/000203.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Datsumorisou%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26 lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

In natural habitat:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.t-kochan.com/Shumi/Shokubutsu/Kouzan/hoteiatsumorisou.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhoteiatsumorisou%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26 client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den

In natural habitat:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://homepage2.nifty.com/hanapapa/index2004/hoteiatsumorisou.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhoteiatsumorisou%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26 client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den

Rebun type (and a couple strange ones, probably representing C. calceolus and x ventricosum) on Rebun Island:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://hana-rebun.hp.infoseek.co.jp/rebuntoday040530.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Datsumorisou%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26 lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

These plants are often found in the high mountains in grasslands where they can bloom very late in the season (June and even July). They are becoming very rare in the wild due to collection pressure. Thank goodness the plant has a wide natural range beyond Japan's mountains.

Tom

If that weren’t enough, here’s more:

A Russian plant, definitely falling within what would be considered ‘hoetiatsumorisou’:

http://www.storczyki.org.pl/galeria/Foto5/mand1.html

And a couple that show the difference between ‘speciosum’ (first photo) and ‘hoteiatsumorisou’ (second):

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://nature.kitaguni.tv/faura/faura_01/index13.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCypripedium%2Bmacranthum%26start%3D70 %26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26 sa%3DN

Finally, a cool little gallery of Russian Cyps including: calceolus, macranthos (various forms), ventricosum, and even yatabeanum (go to the section for C. macranthum for the link):

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://w2.avis.ne.jp/~kiywada/kisyousyu-3.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCypripedium%2Bmacranthum%26start%3D11 0%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%2 6sa%3DN

Lots of variation!

Tom

Thank You all for the help.
Thanks Tom for the lovely links. I still did not see any that was as red as the first one. An alternative place to seen the diffeence in colors is Frosch web site and he did not have any with the intense color.
http://www.w-frosch.de/Arten/menu_ea1.htm
Here the rebunese and speciusum also can be seen if chosen.
I also suspected Macranthos but I had problem beliving the color. There is usually not Pure red in the mac in the pics I have seen. Speciuum in the pinkish style and Hotei
in the more purpule style. Here in the Russian gallery which was so impressive I was really starteled was one also read but more orange. I did not figure out If these where shot an location and there is these wonderful places in the wild or if the hybrids where man made and planted. Any one who knows if these where from the wild? In any case very impressive. Some of the hybrids had colours close to the one I was asking for but more to the orange side.

I actually got the a pdf of the prices from the Japanese nursary and the prices are hefty to say the least. :) :( With a Japanese friend I was able to translate most of it. :) I almost lerend enough to help Yahoo translate :) :)
Divisions of Rebunese for 45000 yen = 375 US dollars.
There were seedlings but to a high price from 3500=29 USD for Hoteis one year old. I would only consider to buy two year old ones and then the prize was 5500=46USD.
To me that is close to the prize in Europe for a mature plant. The Hoteys where not the most expensive that was the rebunense 8000,12000,25000 yen for 2,3,4 year seadlings of self polination.
Is there any macranthos that is darker than Hotei? going towards black with a separate name? These were more expensive then the Hotei same prize Rebunense.They where supposedto be black with large flowers :) :) :).
Either they have problems with their seedlings and can not propagate them as good as it should or they have a lot of customers so that they can charge this.
For Japonicum they charge 1500= 12.5 USD for vegetative propagated plants. That is very cheap compared with Europe.
I will try to see Steeles Macs

Thanks a lot

Joakim