Hi, first as I'm new, hello to all and congratulations on a fantastic site. I'm in the UK and just before Christmas bought my first Cyps from a Dutch auction seller. These plants were bought as Cyp calceolus which clearly they are not and they also differ greatly! They are still lovely plants which happily have now flowered for me.

Can someone help me ID them please? Pictures below taken today. If needed I can take different pictures of specific areas of the flowers. i am now going to attempt to post the pictures, this is my first post so lets hope it works:D

Welcome to the site! Very nice pictures and flowers. Did you buy them all as one kind of cyp? They all look very different. Maybe an expert can ID them for you.

very very pretty:welcomesof:

Hi, yes they were all mean't to be Cyp calceolus. Don't get me wrong I'm very happy with them but would just like to know what species they are.

Pete

Hello and welcome! Nice pix!!! did you contact the seller? Maybe he can give you more info or at least id them for you??

Hi Paul

I am still waiting for a reply but he only sells over winter time so could be on holiday etc now. On the other hand if these are imported Cyps from China as suspected after receiving them, I doubt he will know either.

Pete

Hope he can at least give you some credit for selling you wrong plants!!

Hi Peter welcome to the slipper orchid forum! Glad you could join us! :hyper: They are definitely not what you had ordered. The first one looks like a Cyp Franchetti but don't take my word for it. Your pictures are very beautiful!

Peter, you are absolutely correct that these are not C. calceolus and your suspicions about them being wild collected are on the mark as well. All the plants you show here are variations of the naturally occurring C. x ventricosum, a cross between C. calceolus and C. macranthos. Vendors market them under various names such as C. x barbeyi (darker concolors), C. kesselringii (tend to be more yellow), and C. manchuricum (pale creamy to white flowers with wide segments, very beautiful). These all are the same hybrid in the end, however no doubt many have introgressed (crossed back) with each other in complicated ways. Such groups of wild plants are commonly called a "hybrid swarm". Country of origin is either NE China or SW Russia.

On the up side, you have some lovely forms there and they are generally pretty easy to grow and bloom. They also tend to clump better and faster than most Cyps - indeed a product of hybrid vigor.

Welcome to a great forum Peter! Beautiful photography!

Thanks for sharing!

I think that the first one would be some kind of macranthos, and the others would be macranthos alba.

Welcome to the slipper orchid forum...:welcome:

hey Peter,
Tom is absolutely right.
these are very lovely Ventricosum clones.

most of those "auction sellers" buy their plants from China.
many times the plants come "mislabelled"
with "very interresting names",
such as calceolus pink, macranthos yellow.
they sell better ;-)

But there is no doubt, that all these are of hybrid origin.

here are some pics of those "fantasy named" cultivars:
(pics from last year)

'calceolus pink'
http://www.bildercache.de/bild/20090411-083309-430.jpg

"macranthos yellow"
http://www.bildercache.de/bild/20090411-083526-71.jpg

another "macranthos yellow'
http://www.bildercache.de/bild/20090411-083648-10.jpg

socalled 'calceolus albiflora'
http://www.bildercache.de/bild/20090411-083828-16.jpg

enjoy
dieter

hey Peter,
Tom is absolutely right.
these are very lovely Ventricosum clones.

most of those "auction sellers" buy their plants from China.
many times the plants come "mislabelled"
with "very interresting names",
such as calceolus pink, macranthos yellow.
they sell better ;-)

But there is no doubt, that all these are of hybrid origin.

here are some pics of those "fantasy named" cultivars:
(pics from last year)

'calceolus pink'

"macranthos yellow"

another "macranthos yellow'

socalled 'calceolus albiflora'

enjoy
dieter

Lovely group of calceolus you've got there Dieter! ;)

To use the names assigned by various botanists through the years I'd call:

'calceolus pink' - nice white flowered C. x ventricosum crossed back onto C. macranthos or C. x barbeyi.

"macranthos yellow" - classic C. x kesselringii showing the strong C. calceolus influence.

another "macranthos yellow' - yellow? I'd say a typical, yet very lovely, pale flowered clone of C. x ventricosum.

socalled 'calceolus albiflora' - ditto, with a shade more C. macranthos in there leaning the plant toward C. x manchuricum.

Of course only C. x ventricosum is widely accepted name. These plants are just a superb group - you could almost base a collection just on this one cross and still have tons of variation!

Enjoy your lovely plants Peter!

Hi all, thanks for the advice regarding my plants. These are just a few of what I bought so what the others turn out to be we will have to wait and see. I'll keep you posted when they flower and more than likely be back with questions on ID again. Not naming names but it will be interesting to see if some others I bought of a different person turn out to be true to name!

Dieter, I think the 'Calceolus Pink' is stunning and would be very happy to have one flower like that.

In my original post I said these were the first Cyps I have bought, this is not quite true. I meant to say first I have bought that flowered as I had some seedlings from Phytesia last year which are still alive! (macranthos, reginae alba, kentuckiense) and also bought some very large strong seedlings from a company in Germany called 'In Vitro Plant Services' (Cyp Dietrich), the hybrids are good value for money.

http://www.in-vitro-quedlinburg.de/eng/in-vitro-plant-gb.html

I would like to have a go at flasking Cyp seed at some point in the not to distant future. I take it my natural hybrids would have a very mixed bunch if I was successful? Are there many members that flask? Be careful as if you say yes, you are likely to have several questions from me in the future:D

Pete

Welcome to the forum! Nice pictures!