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ephemerati

Zygopetalum crinitum (or not)

8 years ago

....is what the tag says but I suspect what I have is a hybrid.


This is The Little Zygo That Could: the first spike appeared about three months ago and, after great anticipation, a rogue caterpillar ate every bud. RIP caterpillar. Another spike appeared shortly after, and was promptly devoured by another caterpillar. RIP caterpillar. I gave up any hope for it flowering this season. Then, a month ago, from the same new growth it produced a third (!!!) spike, which I watched over like a hawk, aided by my friendly balcony guard-spider.


The flowers opened during a weekend when we had record high Autumn temps in the mid-30s C with humidity in the teens and accompanied by howling winds and a raging bushfire.


This little zygo was absolutely determined to flower. I'm pretty stoked by the result even if it only had enough energy for four of them. Very nice fragrance too, though it's nowhere near as strong as Z. mackayi (whose spike some &^%$ bug also gnawed in half; I'm still waiting to see if it'll recover from the offense).


The lip is bluer than my camera can capture:






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