*Phalaenopsis deliciosa Rchb. f. 1854 SUBGENUS Phalaenopsis SECTION Deliciosae E. A. Christ 1986

Plant and Flower Photos by Milan Vágner

Another Flower Photo by Jay Pfahl

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Common Name The Delicate Phalaenopsis - In Thailand Katachaw

Flower Size 1/2" to 3/4" [1.5 to 2 cm]

Some authors attribute this name to Kingidium decumbens and vice versa, but Kingidium decumbens is a misused name and really would be a synonym of Phalaenopsis parishii due to a mistake in taxomony a hundred years ago. Ranging from India to SE Asia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines in riverine and lowland forests at elevations below 600 meters.

A miniature plant found in the Chinese Himalayas, Assam India, Bangladesh, Eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Sikkim, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanamar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, Moluccas, the Philippines, Sulawesi and Sumatra in riverine forests at elevations below 600 meters that grows well mounted on cork or tree fern, is a cool to hot growing epiphyte with a very short stem carrying, 3 to 6 oblong-lanceolate, undulate margins, apically slightly unequal leaves that blooms on an axillary, erect, racemose, to 8" [20 cm] long, often branching, many flowered inflorescence with the sequentially opening flowers facing all directions occuring at any time and more than once a year if well grown.

Synonyms Aerides latifolia Thw. 1861; Doritis hebe [Rchb.f] Schlechter 1913; Doritis latifolia [Thw.] Trim 1885; Doritis philippinensis Ames 1908; Doritis steffensii Schlechter 1911; Doritis wightii [Rchb.f] Benth & J D Hook 1883; Kingidium deliciosum (Rchb. f.) H.R. Sweet 1970; Kingidium deliciosum var bellum {teijsm & Binn 1993; Kingidium philippinenesis [Ames] O. Gruss 1995; Kingidium wightii [Rchb.f] Gruss & Rolke 1995; Kingiella hebe {Rchb.f] Rolfe 1917; Kingiella philippinensis [Ames] Rolfe 1917; Kingiella steffensii [Schltr.] Rolfe 1917; Phalaenopsis alboviolacea Ridl. 1893; Phalaenopsis amethystina Rchb.f 1865; Phalaenopsis bella Teijsm & Binn. 1862; Phalaenopsis hebe Rchb.f 1862; Phalaenopsis hebe var amboinensis J.J.Sm. 1917; Phalaenopsis wightii Rchb.f 1862

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1862 as P hebe; Xenia Orchidaceae vol 2 Rchb.f 1868 as P hebe drawing; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995 as Doritis wightii; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905 as P hebe; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1959 as K decumbens drawing, photo fide; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Orchids of Java Comber 1990 as Kingidium deliciosa; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 2 1994 photo as Kingidium deliciosa; Orchids of Borneo Chan, Shim, Lamb & Wood 1994 as Kingidium deliciosum; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994; AOS Bulletin Vol 70 No 12 2001 photo; Phalaenopsis, A Monograph EA Christenson 2001; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001 as Kingidium deliciosa; Lindleyana Vol 17 No 1 2002 as Kingidium deliciosum; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; Australian Orchid Review Vol 71 No 1 2006 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 1 2007 photo;

Phalaenopsis deliciosa subsp. hookeriana (O.Gruss & Roellke) Christenson 2001 SUBGENUS Phalaenopsis SECTION Deliciosae E. A. Christ 1986

Photo by Kjell Nillson

Synonyms Kingidium deliciosum ssp hookeriana [Gross & Rolke] Christensen 2001; Kingidium hookerianum O.Gruss & Roellke 1994; Kingidium hookerianum O.Gruss & Roellke 1995

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