Hi, So this little story started two nights ago when someone brought in a no-ID paph to the San Francisco Orchid Society Meeting.
http://tinyurl.com/a4bc2 It's a relatively small flower for a paph and I immediately though of Harol Koopowitz's recent article on "tiny" paphs in the latest Orchid Digest. Ron Parsons thought it was a form of Paph. gratrixianum. He also thought that the larger versions of P. gratrixianum in circulation are actually P. affine. When I went to research the issue, I found contradictory information. Braem & Chiron claim P. gratrixianum and P. affine are synonyms. Their photo of P. gratrixianum is the one seen frequently on show tables, etc. The Kew World Checklist said something completely different. It says P. affine is really P. x affine, a natural hybrid between P. appletonianum and P. villosum. So..... Given that the plant was bought in with no tag, a relatively knowledgeable person IDs it as a different P. gratrixianum than what's commonly grown as such, AND the disagreement between two reputable sources..... Is the plant ID'd correctly in the first place? If so, who can shed some light on the contradictory reference materials? Thanks for your attention and help. -Eric in SF www.orchidphotos.org -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.3/254 - Release Date: 2/8/2006
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