Description
(Calanthe brevicornu of horticulture, in part)
Strong rhizomes which make lush foliage in late spring and early summer. This persists through winter, however the plants are then leaf-dormant.
In April the new leaves appear with the buds which expand into good-sized flowers. These have white tepals and a divided white lip marked in pink. The central lobe is considerably larger and is frilled and folded, with a central area of primrose yellow contrasting well with the pink apex. The flowers are powerfully coconut-scented.
Readily grown and very vigorous, increasing steadily outside when grown in the same manner as discolor, striata and tricarinata. It makes larger, more vigorous plants which soon form clumps, whilst also flowering reliably and magnificently. Each year the spikes project 30cm of more out of the shade frames here.
Calanthe brevicornu was once regarded as being just one, very variable, species ranging from Nepal in the west of its range to Myanmar and China in the east. However it increasingly became obvious that the most western forms (the plants originally described as C.brevicornu) with reddish lips, petals and sepals, differed considerably from the more easterly forms. They had been all lumped together but only the westerley plants are now regarded as actually being C. brevicornu. The easterly plants with flowers having greenish-white tepals, red frilled lips, yellow lip markings and a very strong (and absolutely delicious) smell of coconut and now, justifiably, recognised as belonging to a separate species, this is Calanthe lamellosa.
Vegetative divisions of a long-established stock, grown and produced here.
for UK sales ONLY
NOT available for export to E.U., Japan, Norway, Switzerland, U.S.A. etc.
