a new orchid just came into bloom

[Berni J]

no doubt Paul will know it though I never saw anything like it before, lovely stems too, Berni

[Gene French]

Wow...unbelievable...you guys are really good at this!!!

Congratulations

Gene

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[epicatt2]

Berni,

You orchid looks to be Chysis bruennowiana which used to be known as Chysis costaricensis (and pervious to that is was called Chysis aurea var. maculata).  You can compare your flowers to those in the photos here on Jay Pfahl's Internet Orchid Photo Encyclopedia:

http://www.orchidspecies.com/chysisbruennow.htm

Are these flowers fragrant, Berni?  If so, of what?

They should last a week or two in perfection and then the small growth which the spike emerged from will begin to mature, so be careful after the flowers fade and you trim away the old flower spike that you don't acidentally cut off the maturing new growth.

There are only three species of Chysis in Costa Rica. All are pretty things, even out of bloom, with their graceful growing habit..

One very showy, white-flowered species is Chysis bractescens, native from Mexico thru Nicaragua, which is very popular with orchid growers.  Its impressive flowers can be upwards of 4-nches in diameter!  I have seen this Chysis at the CR orchid shows.  I recommend that you look for one at the shows. Here is an IOSPE link to see a nice photo of it:

http://www.orchidspecies.com/orphotdir/chysisractescens.jpg

I read one account of a specimen of this plant in the '50s observed in situ in Nicaragua having pseudobulbs fully six feet long and growing hanging pendently from a horizontal branch of a large jungle tree about fifteen feet above the ground.  We're lucky to get three-foot long pseudobulbs growing them nicely in our collections.  (It's not a difficult plant to grow.)

Cheers!

Paul M.

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On Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 1:21:48 PM UTC-4, Berni J wrote:

[Berni J]

Yup that's it.  No no smell at all.  It has much nicer engorged pseudobulbs than most - not sure what the right term is for that.  Thanks as always, Berni

I read one account of a specimen of this plant in the '50s observed in situ in Nicaragua having pseudobulbs fully six feet long and growing hanging pendently from a horizontal branch of a large jungle tree about fifteen feet above the ground.  We're lucky to get three-foot long pseudobulbs growing them nicely in our collections.  (It not a difficult plant to grow.)